


Saving the Future

by Maraudering_Paige



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Babies, F/F, F/M, Hermione goes back in time, M/M, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Mpreg, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-03-28 15:51:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 47,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13907304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maraudering_Paige/pseuds/Maraudering_Paige
Summary: Dumbledore has a plan to send Hermione back in time during the summer before what is meant to be her fifth year at Hogwarts, hoping that she could save the Wizarding World  from all that Voldemort has done and make the future, or their current world, a happier place. He sends her back to the Marauders' fifth year of Hogwarts so she can attend school with them and save the three true Marauders from the lives that became of them, and, in turn, save Harry and others from becoming orphans. Hermione agrees to sacrifice her current life for one in the past, hoping to save her friend and everyone else from their current lives, but will she succeed? Will she fall in love? Will she have a good life? Will James and Lily survive?Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.





	1. Dumbledore's Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also on my Fanfiction.net account at PMakepeace98. I don't own Harry Potter, unfortunately. If you don't like Hermione going back to the Marauders' Era, or a Hermione/Sirius relationship, or Remus/Severus, or Albus/Minerva, or anything in this story, don't read.

Hermione had been at Grimmauld Place for a week. It had been two weeks since the end of term. A few weeks since Voldemort returned. Ron and his family had been at Grimmauld Place since the beginning of the holidays. Hermione had spent most of her time helping Molly and Ginny clean the house, the boys didn’t want to do much to help, but they did help occasionally. She spent quite a bit of time with Remus and Sirius as well, discussing school, and Harry, and all their pasts. They liked to know what Harry had been through before meeting them, so she told them everything she knew. She was interested in their school years, and they told her about some of it, discussing some of their pranks and how they did it. It was interesting, finding out how they completed their pranks. She wasn’t much of a prankster herself, but it was clever how they did it. They were all very clever indeed.   
But on her seventh day at Grimmauld Place Dumbledore came and wished to speak with her. She was confused as to why he wanted to speak to her of all people, but he brought her to the library in the house and they sat down on two of the armchairs so that they were facing each other.  
“Miss Granger, you are a very bright witch. You are smart and brave.” She blushed at the compliment. “I have a plan, a plan that will save multiple people and end this war, if all goes well anyway. But for this plan I was hoping that you would be able to help me.”  
She was beyond shocked that she could help. “Me? But, why not one of the Order members? Wouldn’t they be better equipped to help you? They have more experience after all.”  
“You also have quite a bit of experience, after helping Harry these past few years. And I know you have read ahead in most of your subjects, and are very capable of doing some very advanced magic. But that is not why I need your help. The Order members aren’t the right people either because they are already involved, in their own ways, of course.”  
“What do you need my help for, sir?”  
“My plan is to send you back in time.” She was, again, shocked. “Back to the Marauders’ fifth year of Hogwarts, so you will be in the same year. The Order can’t go back because they are already in the past, they can’t do what I want them to do. I can’t send Harry back because he also has something to do with their lives. You are a muggleborn and hadn’t had anything to do with any of us until your first year of Hogwarts. You are the perfect person for the task. Also, you are extremely clever, and brave, as I have already said.”  
“What would I have to do, sir?”  
“I need you to befriend the Marauders, maybe even become one yourself, and help them. You see, this is the year that everything changes for them, without them even realising. It was the summer before their fifth year that Peter became a Death Eater, I need you to make the three true Marauders realise what he is before too much damage is done. He would be passing as much information on to Voldemort as he can, about the Marauders, about the staff, about all the students. I need you to make them see what he is and then they will break all ties with him and will no longer tell him their secrets. And it also means that Harry will have a family. I also need you to help them to see that Severus isn’t that bad as a person. I need you to make them stop pranking him. James had always loved Lily and Lily liked him too, but wouldn’t date him because he was hurting Severus. If they stop hurting him and are nice to him then Severus won’t become a Death Eater because he will still have his best friend, who he called a Mudblood after she saved him from one of their pranks, and he will be a happier person. Maybe Lily will start dating James sooner as well. I also need you to help myself and the Order kill Voldemort.”  
“How am I supposed to do that, sir?”  
“I am going to give you some information that you will pass on to them, this information is the key to killing Voldemort.” Hermione nodded. “Voldemort has created horcruxes. A horcrux is an item, living or inanimate, that holds part of a person’s soul. It is very dark magic. To be able to kill Voldemort and have him never return you need to destroy the horcruxes, if he has those he can die and then use them to come back. If they are destroyed then he can’t come back. To destroy them you need to use magic that will destroy the container enough that the damage is irreversible. Basilisk venom is one of the things you can use, though that means going into the Chamber of Secrets and killing it, with the sword of Gryffindor, which will impregnate the sword with the venom, as it did when Harry killed the snake. You may also need a few fangs, just in case.”  
“What are these horcruxes that he has created?”  
“The highest there have ever been is seven. Though, in the time that I am sending you to there are five. The first being the diary that Harry destroyed in your second year. I believe that is in the Malfoy residence. The second is his grandfathers’ ring, which I believe is in the Gaunt residence. The next is Hufflepuff’s cup. I have a feeling that the cup is with the Lestrange’s, if not, in their vault at Gringotts. Then there is Slytherin’s locket. I don’t know where that is, but you will have five years to find it. There is also something to do with Ravenclaw, I am guessing her diadem as that is the most precious artefact she owned. I also don’t know where that is.”  
“Okay. So, what do I do when I go back in time?”  
“Hermione, you don’t have to agree to doing this if you don’t want to. But, if you do, then there are some things you should know. First, once you go back the future as you know it will no longer exist. Just the art of going back that far in time changes everything, but you will still have your memories of this time, and those will help you to change what happens. Second, you won’t be born, you won’t be able to see your parents, and your parents will lead very different lives than they did in this timeline. I have taken the liberty of creating a new persona for you, to explain everything. I have a file that has your details in, as well as the list of everyone who has died in this war, from the time I am sending you to, to now, and the dates they died on so you can hopefully save some of them, if not all, as well as some extra information that I would like you to give my younger self. Third, just before you go I am going to give you the Phoenix Mark, the mark of the Order. It is like the Dark Mark but it doesn’t hurt, it will summon you to all meetings the Order have in the time I am sending you to. It will enrol you into the Order, which you are going to need to be a part of to help them. Fourth, you won’t be able to come back, because you are changing everything, as I said, the future you know won’t exist. So, you will live out the rest of your days in the new timeline. But I am sure that a great young lady like yourself will live a happy and amazing life. If you don’t want to do this then I completely understand, it means leaving your family and your current friends, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be part of their lives. You will see Harry, and if it all goes according to plan he will be happy, and he will have a family. A family you can be part of if you become one of the Marauders or are their friend. And I’m sure you’ll see the Weasley’s as well considering Molly’s brothers are part of the Order in nineteen seventy-five, and Harry may still be friends with Ron.”  
Hermione thought for a few moments. There were many good things about doing this; she could save many lives, she could make it so that Harry and Neville grow up with their parents and are happy children, which is what they deserve, her friends can grow up in a world without war and suffering. But, she wouldn’t get to see her parents. But, her parents would be safe. Her friends would be safe. Her friends would be happy. Sirius and Remus would be happy. James and Lily would be alive. Peter would be punished for what he has done.   
She should do this.   
She could do this.   
“I’ll do it. Where will I be when I go back?”  
“You will be at Hogwarts, on the first day of the last week of the summer holidays. That way you can get back to your schooling as soon as possible, which I know is what you want, and you will be able to start helping the Marauders sooner. But as soon as you arrive the first thing you must do is find my younger self. I spent that day in my office, the password is popping candy. You must tell me everything I have said in this moment, even show my younger self the memory if you need to. Then give me the file which I am about to give to you. Though, before you go you should probably look through your profile.”   
He passed the file which was on the table next to his chair to her and she opened it. On the first page was her profile. 

Hermione Jean Dumbledore  
Mother: Minerva Isobel Dumbledore via adoption  
Father: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore via adoption  
Birth parents are unknown.   
Birthday: 19th September 1959  
Natural magical abilities: Seer  
Previous school: Beauxbatons Academy of Magic  
Reason for move: Adoption.  
Medical ailments: None. 

Hermione stared at the parchment in shock.   
“I didn’t know whether you wanted to keep the name Hermione, you can change it if you wish and I will update the profile.”  
“No, Hermione is fine. Your wife, is that Professor McGonagall?”  
“I knew you were a bright witch.” He said, smiling at the girl. “Yes, Professor McGonagall is my wife. Not many know of our marriage due to the number of enemies we both have, the main one being Voldemort. We decided that since, when you go back in time, you won’t have your own parents, or a place to stay, you could stay with our younger selves. You should tell both myself and Minerva the truth, and show them the file, we will agree to adopt you. You do need guardians until you’re seventeen after all, and it would be an honour to raise an intelligent young lady like yourself.” Hermione blushed. “I was also hoping you could save Minerva.” He said after a little while.  
“What do you mean?” She asked, confused.   
“Minerva and I had wanted to have children, after the war. We were waiting until then because we knew it was too dangerous to have children before the war ended. Witches can have children longer than muggles because, as magical beings, the body ages slower and preserves itself. Namely so women can continue to have magical children until they feel the need to stop. We thought we were near the end of the war, we thought we were going to have the family we wanted. But in nineteen seventy-eight there was a battle between some of the Order and some Death Eaters, Minerva was there. One of the Death Eaters hit her with a curse whilst she was duelling another Death Eater, a curse she couldn’t protect herself from and when she woke up in St Mungos we found out that the curse damaged her reproductive system, meaning that we couldn’t have children. She blamed herself, she still does. She hasn’t been the same since. I want you to save her, do whatever you can to save her from that fate. Become close to her, she will love you like a mother loves her daughter, the way she does with all students plus some. And try to end Voldemort before he can hurt her.” He had tears in his eyes by the end of his speech.   
“I’ll try. I’m sorry that happened.”  
“It’s not your fault. But so long as you try everything should be okay. Maybe Voldemort will be gone by then.”  
She nodded, looking back at the profile. “Why does it say I’m a seer?”  
“We can’t tell the Order that you are from the future, or anyone. So, if we tell people you’re a seer that will explain how you found out about the horcruxes, and how you know things about the future, etcetera.”  
She nodded in understanding before remembering something. “You said you would tell me about the prophecy.”  
“Oh, yes. I did. The prophecy was said by Professor Trelawney, on her job interview, it is why I gave her the job. It goes like this; ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...’. This could have meant either Harry or Neville, but Voldemort thought it meant Harry and so went after them. Voldemort knew about the prophecy because there was a Death Eater spying on us and he heard the beginning of it, passing what he heard onto Voldemort. But he didn’t hear the whole thing. My brother managed to get the Death Eater out before it mentioned marking him as his equal.”  
“Does that mean Harry either has to kill Voldemort or be killed by him?”  
“Yes. Unless you go back in time and kill Voldemort before the prophecy is made.”  
“I’ll do it. I’ll go back in time.”  
“Brilliant. Everything you need is in the file. Including the recipe for wolfsbane potion, for Remus. If my younger self is struggling to believe you, show him your memory of this conversation. He will know how to extract the memory. You will need your wand as well. Do you understand everything you have to do?”  
“Yes.”  
“Okay. I will give you the Phoenix Mark. Could you slide your top off your right shoulder slightly?”  
She slid her top off her right shoulder, just enough to expose her collarbone. He placed the tip of his wand against her collar bone and she soon felt a tingling sensation under the skin of her collar bone. When he removed his wand she looked down and saw a black phoenix on her collar bone, about the size of the palm of her hand. It was beautiful.  
“I believe that is all I can do before you go. Are you sure you want to do this?”  
“Yes. Harry and Neville deserve a family. A happy family. And all those innocent people that died deserve to live. And you deserve the children that you want. I will try my hardest to make the world a better place.”  
“I’m sure you will succeed. You are a very bright witch and I am sure you will do very well in your examinations as well. I hope you have a good life, though.”  
“Thank you. I just hope everyone will be happy, after the war.”  
“I’m sure they will be. Here is your time turner, I have already set it, all you have to do is put it on.” He gave her the time turner and she held it in one hand, the file is in the other and her wand is in her pocket. “Good luck, Hermione.”  
She put on the necklace and she was gone.  
…  
Soon the flashing of images was over and Hermione found herself standing in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. It was quiet and empty. Though it was the summer holidays so what else was to be expected.   
She made her way to the Headmasters’ office, folder in hand, and soon she was standing before the stone gargoyle.   
“Popping candy.” She said, remembering the password Dumbledore had given her.  
The gargoyle sprang aside and the steps appeared, getting higher and higher, she stepped on and made her way up to the door.   
She knocked, hesitantly.   
“Come in.” She heard Dumbledore speak.   
She opened the door and walked in. The room was the same as it was last time she had been in the office. But Dumbledore looked younger, instead of grey his hair was auburn. A lot can change in twenty years.   
“Hello. Who are you? You look like a student, but I haven’t seen you before. How can I help?”  
“Hello, Professor Dumbledore, sir. I need to speak with you, urgently. But first I will need you to get Professor McGonagall to join us, it concerns her too.”  
“Okay. Take a seat and I will call her.” He said, looking confusedly at the girl.   
She sat in the seat opposite his and he walked over to the fireplace, calling his wife who appeared a few seconds later, also looking younger with no wrinkles and lovely black hair, wondering what was going on. She noticed the girl and greeted her kindly before husband and wife sat down opposite Hermione.   
“So, what did you wish to speak to us about?” Albus asked.   
“I don’t really know how to explain this. Just, keep an open mind.” They both nodded at her. “I’m from the future.”  
The adults looked at the girl, shocked.   
“How?” McGonagall asked.   
“I was sent back to this year by the older version of you, Professor Dumbledore. You asked me to come back to this time in the hope of saving those who die, and helping the Order to kill Voldemort. I know how to destroy him, and I know how long we have before things go from bad to worse. I have a list of everyone who dies and when they die. I have some information that will come in handy as well. I also need to become friends with the Marauders and help them, because, well let me put it this way, life doesn’t work out well for them unless we stop Voldemort soon. You can see my memories if you don’t believe me. Or just the memory of the conversation I had before coming here.”  
“Could we see the memory of the conversation? The other memories can wait for another time.” Dumbledore suggested. Hermione nodded. “Do you know how to retrieve your memory?” Hermione shook her head. “Okay. Bring it to the front of your mind, concentrate only on the memory and I will do the rest.”  
She did as she was told and Dumbledore stood, making his way around the desk to stand next to her. He placed the tip of his wand against the side of her head and extracted the memory.   
The three of them walked to the pensieve and he placed the memory inside it before they all fell in.   
As they watched the memory the adults looked shocked, then sad as future Dumbledore mentioned what happened to Minerva.   
When they came back out the first thing they did was all sit in their places.   
“Can I see the file please?” Dumbledore asked. Hermione nodded, giving him the file. He opened it and read through it quickly.  
“What year are you from?” Minerva asked.   
“I was born in nineteen seventy-nine, but that memory was from nineteen ninety-five. I was just about to start my fifth year.”  
“Do you want us to adopt you?” Minerva questioned, slightly nervous.  
“I don’t mind. If you want to adopt me then I’m all for it. Or you can find someone else to adopt me, if you don’t want to. I really don’t mind.”  
“We’ll adopt you. It will be easier for you to help us that way. And we can help you, too. I have some adoption papers here, just in case a student’s parents die, or something, and they need guardians. Let me just go and get one and we can get everything sorted.” Albus said before standing up and walking over to the shelves behind the desk. He rummages through a pile of parchment before picking up a certificate of some kind and walking back to his chair, sitting in it. “Right, Hermione, could you sign on the dotted line at the top, and we’ll sign the others.” He said, giving Hermione the parchment and a quill. She signed her name and gave the parchment and quill to Minerva as the next person to sign should be the person who will be the child’s new mother. She signed, a small smile on her face. Then Albus signed and the parchments rolled itself up into a scroll and flew out the window. “It’s going to our Gringotts vault. Our next order of business will be enrolling you into the school.” He took some papers off the corner of his desk and started filling it out. “What house were you in? Do you want to stay in that house or be re-sorted?”  
“I was in Gryffindor and I’m going to stay there. It will be easier for me to help the Marauders that way.”  
Albus nodded, filling out some more areas.  
“What classes do you want to do? Bearing in mind that this is your O.W.L year.”  
“Defence, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Astronomy, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures.”  
“Are you sure you’ll be able to handle ten subjects?”  
“Yes. I took all classes available to me in my third year using a time turner, and I managed to get good grades. I did drop Divination part way through the year though.”  
“Okay. I will give you some money so that you and Minerva can go shopping tomorrow for your school stuff, and some clothes and whatever else you need as well. I believe that is all to do with the school, now. I will have a bed added to the fifth-year Gryffindor girls’ dormitory for you, for this week, however, you can sleep in the spare room in mine and Minerva’s quarters. You have the symbol for the Order, correct?”  
“Yes.”  
“Okay. I will introduce you to the rest of the Order at the next meeting, I will tell them you’re a seer and that is how you know of the horcruxes and everything else. I believe that is all we should discuss right now. It is getting late. Minerva, why don’t you show Hermione around our quarters and find her something to wear? I will finish up here and then I will join you.”  
Minerva and Hermione stood and Minerva led the girl up the stairs and through the door that led to their quarters. The door opens into a comfy looking living room with two large sofas and an armchair, as well as a fireplace. The colour scheme is red and cream. There is a small kitchenette in the back of the room with a four-seater wooden table. There is a bookshelf full of books covering the wall opposite the fireplace. There are two doors leading to different rooms in the back, in the kitchenette. Minerva led her into the door on the right which led to a large bedroom with a double bed, an empty bookshelf, a desk, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, and another door leading off to what Hermione is guessing is the en-suite. The colour scheme is the same as the living room.   
“This will be your room. We can change the colours and decorate it however you want to since this will be your room now, not a guest bedroom. You can come here at any time, whenever you need us just come. Our room is through the other door, so if you need to talk or anything just come and get us, we won’t mind.”  
“Thank you. The room is perfect. And, um, thank you for believing me.”  
“Well, you did show us your memory. It was hard not to believe. How bad is the future, if we aren’t able to kill Voldemort soon?”  
“Well, the year I came from is the year that Voldemort came back, the war hadn’t properly started but it was still horrible. And so many people died in the first war. The Marauders have it the worst out of everyone I know.”  
“What happens to them?”  
They sit on the bed, facing each other, their legs crossed under them.  
“Well, Peter is a Death Eater. As you know from the memory. You know the prophecy about Harry and Neville. Harry is James and Lily’s child. Neville is the child of Frank and Alice. Voldemort thought it meant Harry and so went after them, Dumbledore made James and Lily go into hiding, under the fidelius charm. Everyone thought that Sirius was their Secret Keeper, because that is what they wanted people to believe. Sirius knew there was someone who was betraying them, so he thought that if he was the Secret Keeper it would be obvious and Death Eaters would go after him, but he suggested to James and Lily that they make Peter their Secret Keeper because no one would suspect him. So, they made Peter their Secret Keeper and Peter told Voldemort where they were. James and Lily died protecting Harry, and Harry survived the killing curse that was sent to him because of his mothers’ sacrifice, it rebounded and got Voldemort instead. Although, because of his horcruxes he didn’t die, he just lost his powers and was merely a spirit. Sirius was angry and went after Peter because he was the only one who knew the truth, but Peter used a blasting curse to kill twelve muggles after shouting out that Sirius was the one who betrayed James and Lily, he then cut off his finger and transformed into a rat, he’s an Animagus, you see, and he ran. He went into hiding as one of my best friends’ pet rat for twelve years. Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial because everyone thought he was guilty. But after twelve years in Azkaban, Fudge, the Minister for Magic at the time, gave Sirius his newspaper when he went on a visit. On the front page was a picture of my friend and his family, with the rat, in Egypt after they had won some money and decided to go and visit his brother who was working in Egypt at the time. Sirius recognised Peter instantly and because of how skinny he was he managed to fit through the bars and escape. But everyone thought he was going after Harry. I don’t know what happened to Remus in those twelve years, he never talked about it. But he was our Defence teacher in our third year, the best we’d had as well. Towards the end of the year Harry, myself and our friend Ron came across Sirius and he explained the truth to us, with the help of Remus who joined us a while later. They turned Peter back into his human form and we tied him up with the intention of handing him in and clearing Sirius’ name. But it was the full moon, and whilst we were all distracted by Remus changing into his wolf form, Peter escaped, in his rat form again. We managed to help Sirius escape from getting the Dementors’ Kiss but he was on the run, and his life hadn’t been particularly great after that. Remus resigned because people found out about his lycanthropy. And Peter went back to his master. I can show you the memory some time if you want me to.”  
“You were outside, with a werewolf?”  
“Yes. He had forgotten to take his potion, but we were okay.”  
“Potion?”  
“Yes. At some point, I don’t know when, someone invents a wolfsbane potion that allows a werewolf to keep their mind during their night as a wolf. So, that way they won’t hurt anyone. In the file that I brought with me there is the recipe for it so that we can make it and give it to Remus. As you saw in the memory. He must take it once a day for a week before the night of the full moon.”  
“I’m sure Professor Slughorn will be able to make it for him. He is a very good potions master. You said Remus was the best teacher you had had for Defence. What other teachers did you have?”  
“Well, first year we had Professor Quirrell who was shy, kept stuttering and had Lord Voldemort on the back of his head. He was also trying to kill Harry and steal the Philosophers’ Stone. Then we had Professor Lockhart, who was a fraud. Then we had Remus who knew what he was doing. Then we had who was meant to be Alastor Moody but was a Death Eater drinking Polyjuice potion to impersonate him, and was working to get Harry to go to Voldemort and therefore helping Voldemort return to power. He also showed us the three unforgivable curses, on spiders, put us all under the imperious curse in lessons to teach us to not let them influence us, and had a hand in the murder of a student who was murdered by Peter just before the return of Voldemort.”  
“Sounds like you’ve had some tough years at the school.”  
“Yes, but there’s been good times too.”   
“What’s your plan with the Marauders?”   
“I don’t know. I think the first thing I need to work on is befriending them. Maybe I could help them with some pranks. Remus and Sirius told me how they did some of them so I might be able to help. And I know a thing or two from my friend Ron’s twin brothers who were the pranksters of Hogwarts during the time I was from. So, I know some stuff which might make them like me. You don’t mind, do you?”  
“No. You do what you need to do. They’re bright people and I don’t want them to have the future that they do in your old timeline. So, you do whatever you need to do to help them.”  
“Thank you.” Hermione said before yawning.   
“Do you want me to transfigure your clothes so you can get some sleep?” Minerva asked the girl kindly.   
“Yes, please.”  
“Okay.” Minerva drew her wand out of her dress pocket and pointed it at the girl, silently transfiguring the clothes she wore into a white nighty that came to her knees. She then stood up and Hermione climbed under the thin sheet, laying down on the comfortable mattress. “Goodnight, Hermione.”  
“Goodnight.” Hermione said before drifting off to sleep.   
Minerva smiled at the sleeping girl before leaving the room. She found her husband sitting on the sofa and she went to sit next to him, cuddling into his side.   
“Is she asleep?” Albus asked.   
“Yes… Everything’s going to be alright, isn’t it?”  
“We have a way of killing Voldemort now. A way we didn’t have before. So, yes, we’re going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”  
“She told me about the Marauders’ future.”  
“Really? What happened to them?”  
She told her husband what Hermione had told her. He was as shocked as she was.   
“I hope things don’t turn out like that.” She said when she had finished her story.  
“They won’t. Hermione seems like a smart girl. She knows what she’s doing. And we know what we have to do to destroy Voldemort now, we just need to find the Horcruxes, destroy them, and then we can kill him and he will be gone forever. Then we can live our lives in peace.”  
“Unless another Dark Wizard comes along.”  
“Another Dark Wizard might not come along, though. But we will figure that out if and when that happens. Right now we know what we have to do to save the future as Hermione knows it. We have the opportunity to save many lives. Then we can add to our family.”  
“We have a daughter.” Minerva said, smiling.  
“That we do. And when the war is over we can have other sons and daughters.” He replied, also smiling.   
“Do you think she’s ever going to call us ‘mum’ and ‘dad’?”  
“Maybe, we just need to give her some time to get over the fact that she’s from the future and won’t be able to see her true parents again. She needs to figure out what is going on now, then she might.”   
“I love you, Albus.”  
“I love you, too, Minerva.”


	2. Shopping and Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione and Minerva go shopping for supplies. Hermione and Minerva discuss what happened in Hermione's past, and what would happen in their future if they didn't change things.

“Do you know how to use the floo?” Minerva asked Hermione as they stood in front of the fireplace in their personal quarters, ready to go shopping. Minerva was wearing a long black dress, the bodice clung to her figure and the skirt flowed nicely down her long legs. Her hair was in a bun, not a tight one that Hermione was used to, but a loose one, with a few strands of hair framing her face on either side. She had a small black bag, the strap of which rested on her left shoulder, and the bag rested against her right hip. It had an undetectable extension charm on it.

After breakfast, which they had eaten at the table in the kitchenette, Minerva had transfigured Hermione’s clothes, again, into some light blue jeans and a t-shirt for a popular muggle band at the time so that she would fit in. She also transfigured her shoes into some white pumps. Hermione’s hair was left down, though Minerva showed her a spell to straighten out the curls. 

“Yes, I’ve used it a few times.” Hermione answered. 

“Okay. We will be going to The Leaky Cauldron.”

Hermione nodded, taking a handful of floo powder as she stepped into the fireplace and called out the address, dropping the powder and disappearing in the green flames. 

She walked out of the fireplace at The Leaky Cauldron and looked around, it looked the same as it did in the future. Although, Tom, who stood behind the bar serving customers, looked younger. 

Soon Minerva arrived and she led the girl out of the pub and down the muggle street. 

“We’ll get you some muggle stuff first, I have both muggle and wizarding money on me.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know what kind of stuff you want to get? We can get you some stuff to decorate your room with as well as clothes and things.”

“I don’t know. Can we just go into different stores and have a look around? As for the room, the bed is perfect, and so is the furniture. All that I really want is some paint for the walls, maybe some different blankets, and some books for the bookshelf. Maybe some things to go on the desk as well, but that’s it.”

“Okay. If that’s what you want.”

They start looking around different clothes stores, Hermione picking up clothes that she likes the look of and trying them on in the changing rooms. She also picked up bras, and nickers, and socks. Soon she has a good haul of clothes and so they go to shoe stores. She buys some Converse high-tops in various colours (black, white, light blue, burgundy, and red), remembering how much she liked the shoe in the future. She also bought some smart, black shoes for school, much like the ones she wore in the future. They then went to another store to buy some hair and body products, such as shampoo, conditioner, hair bands, make-up, deodorant, perfume, shower gels, moisturisers, sanitary towels, flannels, towels, toothbrushes and toothpaste, face wash, etc. She figured that to become friends with the Marauders she should probably look nice, so she had to change her style. Also, the clothes that were her style weren’t around in this period of time, so she had to change anyway. She brought some bags as well, including one for school. She didn’t want to buy so much but Minerva insisted as it was the first time she had a child to spend money on. All the bags with these things in were shrunk and put into Minerva’s bag.   
They then went to a department store to get stuff to decorate her bedroom with. Hermione chose a paint colour that looked somewhere in between a purple and a grey, like a mixture of both colours. It was a pale colour, not bright. But it looked nice. She brought some new duvet covers, blankets and pillow cases as well. Also brought some fairy lights that she liked after Minerva caught her staring at them and insisted she brought them too. They were a warm, yellow-ish colour encased within fake white roses. They were beautiful. Minerva said that they could get them to work with magic. They went to a muggle bookstore next and she picked out some of her favourite muggle books, as well as ones that she liked the sound of. 

It was lunch time when they left the bookstore, so they decided to walk back to The Leaky Cauldron to get something to eat before going into Diagon Alley. All of the bags were shrunken and inside of Minerva’s little black bag. 

They found a table at the back of the pub and sat in the wooden chairs, opposite each other. Soon Tom came over and took their orders for drinks and food and left again. 

“So, have you enjoyed your day so far?”

“Yes. Thank you, for everything. You really don’t have to buy me so much, though.”

“Of course I do. I’m your guardian now, it is my job to buy things for you. And Albus and I have plenty of money, and used to only have each other, and ourselves, to spend it on. Also, you came here to help us, it’s only right that we help you too, by buying you what you need. Is there anything that you want to ask me?”

“Um, do you stay at the school for all the holidays?”

“No. For Christmas and Easter we do. But we spend most of the summer at my family home, McGonagall Manor. We come back a week before term starts in order to make sure everything is prepared and get some extra work done. You will have a room there, too. We will sort that out next summer.”

“Thank you. Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

Minerva smiled at the girl. “I’m forty. I’ll be forty-one on the fourth of October, though. Can I ask you something?”

“Yes.” 

“Why did you drop Divination?”

Hermione laughed slightly as Tom came back to the table with their food and drinks. Hermione had ordered butterbeer and a chicken salad sandwich with chips, Minerva had ordered some gillywater and the same food as Hermione. The two thanked him and he left. 

“Well, our teacher kept trying to predict Harry’s death using the Grim. She asked Harry, Ron and I what we saw in that glass ball thing, whatever it’s called, and I answered sarcastically, saying that we saw the Grim. She told me I had no talent in the subject whatsoever, and I walked out of class. It was the first time I had ever walked out of class, though.”

“Who was your teacher?”

“Professor Trelawney. She’s the one who made the prophecy about Harry and Neville. Dumbledore had to hire her to protect her, but she wasn’t very good. In fact, after our first lesson with her we had a lesson with you and you told us that every year she predicted the death of a student, and none of those deaths had happened. I don’t think you were very fond of her.” Hermione said, laughing gently. 

“I’m not a fan of divination, I have to say. It’s a very imprecise form of magic. What’s your favourite lesson? It’s okay if you don’t say transfiguration, by the way.”

“I do like transfiguration. In fact, I like all lessons, except divination of course. But my favourite would have to be arithmancy. What classes do the Marauders and Lily take?”

“Lily and Remus are taking all of the same lessons you are taking. They’re both very studious. James, Sirius and… Peter, are taking all of the same lessons except arithmancy because they didn’t like the sound of it. And they don’t like having too much homework. But, they’re still taking nine subjects so they still have lots of work to do, plus there’s the pranks.”

“Are the Marauders the only boys in Gryffindor in the year? And what girls will I be with?”

“Yes, they are the only fifth year boys in Gryffindor. Frank is the year above them. You will be sharing your dormitory with Lily, Alice and a girl called Marlene McKinnon. Their year is quite a small year compared with all the others. I’m sure you’ll become friends with all of them, though.”

They both smiled slightly. 

“Did you have a pet of any kind during your previous school years, we can get you a new one if you want?” Minerva asked Hermione. 

“In third year I got a cat who was half-Kneazle. I named him Crookshanks. I don’t mind. I don’t need a pet.”

“Well, we have plenty of owls you can use. But we can get you a new cat if you want. Albus and I happen to like cats as well. Or you can get your own owl. Whatever you want. Honestly, we have plenty of money and it is great to finally be able to spend it on someone else.”

“Okay. We can have a look.”

When they were done eating Minerva payed for their meals and they went through the back door, Minerva opened the entrance to the Alley and they walked through. It wasn’t much different to how it was in the future. It just looked newer, the paint was fresh and the windows were clean. There were a lot of witches and wizards around, dressed in robes of all styles and colours, or dressed in muggle clothes.

They got all of the books Hermione would need for school that year, plus some others about magic in various forms and some fictional stories she had read in her years as a Hogwarts student, and some that sounded interesting. Minerva recommended some for her as well. She also brought a couple of books about pranking because she thought it would be easier to help the Marauders if she knew a bit more about the subject. Then they brought her school clothes and some robes for the holidays’ etc. 

“You know, James, Sirius and Remus are all on the Quidditch team. Do you like Quidditch? Maybe if you get on the team then that might help you with your task.” Minerva said. 

“I knew James was on the team, but Sirius and Remus? What positions do they play?”

“James is chaser. Sirius and Remus are beaters. We make sure to schedule the Gryffindor games so they aren’t around the time of the full moon, that way Remus doesn’t feel as ill. But you didn’t answer the question.”

“I like watching Quidditch. I haven’t played, though, I’m not that great at flying.”

“Well, if you want, we could get you a broom and I can teach you how to fly for the rest of the week. I used to be a Quidditch player myself when I was at school.”

Now Hermione looked shocked. Minerva just smiled at her. 

“You used to play Quidditch?”

“Yes, I used to be the Gryffindor teams’ seeker. I was very good, if I do say so myself. In fact, I won nearly every game for our team. That was until my seventh year when we were playing Slytherin in the finals and their seeker knocked me off my broom. I was quite badly injured, and after that point I never played Quidditch again. But I am incredibly competitive. I get incredibly angry whenever Slytherin beat Gryffindor. Though, since the boys started playing for the team that has been happening less and less. James is very good at scoring goals, and the other two are very good beaters.”

“You were competitive during my previous time at the school as well. Harry, he played seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he was the best they had had in a few years, but he kept getting hurt during the games. He started in his first year after you saw him catch our friends’ Remembrall during our first flying lesson. You were incredibly excited to have a new player that might actually help Gryffindor win. The whole team was. You even brought Harry a broom. The top of the range at the time.”

“Harry, as in James’ son, right?” Hermione nodded. “How did he keep getting hurt during the games?”

“Well, there was this one time, in our second year, when there was a rogue bludger chasing him around the pitch. Just as he caught the snitch it hit his arm and broke it. Then the fraud of a defence teacher tried to fix it but ended up getting rid of all the bones in his arm, so Harry had to spend the evening in the hospital wing growing his bones back with skele-gro. In third year, some dementors came onto the pitch during the game and they affected him the most, he recalled the night his parents died when they were around, and he fell off his broom from quite a height. Last year they didn’t have Quidditch because it was the Tri-Wizard Tournament. In which Harry was entered, even though he wasn’t seventeen and he didn’t want to do it. The person that impersonated Moody put his name in and jinxed the goblet. Harry did, however, use his broom to help complete the first task of the tournament, it was against a dragon. He was very good. Those were the worst ones.”

“You and your friends certainly have been through a lot.” Minerva said, smiling slightly at Hermione who smiled back. 

“Yes, but we’ve had fun as well.” Hermione replied, smiling back. 

They next brought the ingredients that Hermione would need for potions, as well as the other things she would need for it, like the cauldron, and the gloves, and the scales, etc. After that they went to the animal store, Hermione found a cat that looked a lot like Crookshanks and chose him, Minerva was only too happy to buy him for her. They also brought some things for the cat to play with, and some cat food. Then they went to the stationary store and brought Hermione some parchment, ink and quills. 

“Do you have your old wand or do you need a new one?” Minerva asked. 

“I have a wand.” Hermione answered. 

And soon they were done, heading back to The Leaky Cauldron so that they could floo back to the castle. When they arrived they went to Hermione’s bedroom and Minerva took all of the shrunken bags out of her small black bag and enlarged them, placing them on the floor. 

“I will leave you to unpack whilst I go and start on dinner. We can decorate your room tomorrow. Do you mind having sausage casserole, with roast potatoes? I have no idea what food you like.”

“Sausage casserole is fine. Thank you, for everything.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.” Minerva smiled before she left the room. Hermione smiled too. She could get used to living with her favourite teacher and the Headmaster.

She placed the new Crookshanks on the bed and started by unpacking her clothes and placing them either in the wardrobe, the chest of drawers, or the bedside cabinets. She then unpacked her toiletries, placing them all in various places of the en-suite depending on what the items were. The towels and flannels went in the cupboard, so did the sanitary towels and moisturiser. A toothbrush and the toothpaste went on the side next to the sink, so did the face wash. The shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel went on the side of the bath. The make-up and hair products went on the side near the sink as well. She then filled her bookshelf with the books she brought. Though, she placed all of her stuff for school on her desk or in her desk drawers for now. She placed the toys for Crookshanks in a clear space on the floor and he started playing with the toys immediately. 

Soon she was done and wondered what to do next. She decided to go and see if Minerva needed help with the food. 

When she arrived in the kitchenette she found Minerva and Albus there, cooking together whilst they laughed and talked about whatever came to mind. She felt slightly guilty for trespassing on their lives. Since barely anyone knew of their marriage it meant that the holidays were the only times that they were able to really be together, as a couple. And now she was here, intruding on their lives. She knew she had to come back, to save lives and help the Order to destroy Voldemort. But maybe it wasn’t a good idea to be adopted by this couple. This couple who sacrificed so much to be together and are fighting in this war. This couple who barely had any time to themselves. She knew the older version of Albus said it was okay, but she was starting to doubt that. 

She was just about to turn around and walk back into her room to give them space when Minerva noticed her and called her name. She looked at the couple, both of whom were smiling at her, and she smiled back slightly. Though she couldn’t get rid of the guilt she was feeling. 

“Are you done unpacking?” Minerva asked. 

“Yes. Thank you, again, for today.” Hermione replied. Not knowing what else to say.

“You’re welcome. It was fun. Are you okay?” Minerva questioned, noticing the guilty look in the girls’ eyes. 

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you. I was just coming to see if you wanted any help with the food, but I will leave you two alone.” She said, starting to turn around. But Albus’ voice stopped her. 

“Nonsense, come and help. You can peel the potatoes if you want.”

“Really? I don’t want to intrude.”

“You aren’t intruding, Hermione. It’s fine.” Albus told her with a smile on his face. 

“Okay.” Hermione said before walking over to them and washing her hands in the sink before starting to peel the potatoes.

“Did you have a good day?” Albus asked the girl as he resumed cutting up vegetables for the casserole.

“Yes, I did, thank you. You don’t have to spend so much money on me, though.”

“Nonsense, we’re your guardians now, it is part of our job to spend our money on you. Plus, we have a lot of money and not enough people to spend it on. And you needed clothes, and your school things. Also, you’ve already done a great deal to help us in this war, and you will continue to help us, so it is an honour to spend our money on you when you have already done so much for us, and will continue doing so.” Albus spoke in a gentle voice, reassuring the guilty girl slightly. 

When their dinner was done the three of them sat at the table together and ate the delicious meal, discussing the school and what Hermione got up to in the future among other things. And they sat at the table, still talking, for an hour after finishing their meal. Then Hermione went back to her room after saying goodnight to the adults. 

She picked out some pyjamas and nickers and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. She picked out a book before climbing into bed and started to read it, it was one of the books on pranking that she brought to help her become friends with the Marauders. 

Soon she was disturbed by a knock on the door and she allowed the person to come in. It was Minerva, who smiled at her before sitting on the edge of the bed, facing Hermione. 

“Are you sure you’re okay, Hermione?” Minerva asked. “You know you can speak to me, or to Albus, about anything, right?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“Really? Because I couldn’t help but notice that you looked guilty before and during dinner. Why do you feel guilty?”

“It’s just… You two are hiding your marriage from most people, so you barely get any proper time together, except for the holidays, and I just came here and intruded on your personal space. I feel guilty for ruining your time together.”

“Hermione, you’re not ruining our time together. We’ve wanted a child for so long but we decided to wait until Voldemort was gone so he couldn’t destroy everything. That’s why we started fighting him, because we thought that if we did then the sooner these dark times would be over, and the sooner we would be able to start our family. But you came and we’re your guardians now. We’re more than happy to look after you, Hermione. We’re more than happy to share our time with you. We’re more than happy to be the family you need, and we’ll always be here for you, no matter what. I know it’s hard for you right now, having just come back in time and not being able to see your real parents again, and not being able to have the same relationship with your friends as you used to because they haven’t even been born yet. But we’re here for you, whatever you need, whenever you need it. And we will spend our money on you whether you like it or not. Okay?”

“Okay. Thank you.” Hermione said quietly. She felt slightly consoled, but she still felt guilty. 

“You’re welcome. Now I don’t want you feeling guilty anymore. Okay?” Hermione nodded. “Good. Now I shall leave you to your book. Goodnight, Hermione.”

“Goodnight.” 

Minerva smiled slightly at the girl before leaving the room. Hermione returned to her book, learning how to prank people. It was interesting, and incredibly clever. She hadn’t heard Remus or Sirius discussing these pranks so she assumed that they either hadn’t done them or had forgotten to mention them. They didn’t discuss all of their pranks with her, just some of the best, but the ones she was reading about were incredibly funny, and clever, and she knew she could probably use them to help get on the Marauders’ good side. 

She was excited to become friends with them, she was excited to help them prank people, and to help them have better lives than they did in her timeline. Or at least the three true Marauders, she wasn’t looking forward to meeting Peter, knowing that she would be incredibly angry at him but have to suppress it until she was close enough to the other three to divulge the truth. She wondered what they would be like as their younger selves, she wondered what James was like. She also wondered about the three girls she would be sharing a dormitory with. Particularly Lily, she wanted to know what Harry’s mum was like as a person. 

She kept hearing people comparing him to his parents. Though they said he behaved and looked like his father, and had his mothers’ eyes. But they never really mentioned him having any of Lily’s behaviours, at least, not in front of her. She wanted to know who he was really like, and she wanted to make sure that his parents lived so that he would have a happier childhood. A childhood she could still be a part of if she successfully managed to become friends with the Marauders and Lily. 

It took her a few hours to finish reading the book, and she had managed to memorise a good number of the pranks in there. She believed she was now able to become friends with the notorious pranksters, she believed she had what it took to become a Marauder.

She believed she had what it took to save the lives of these people.


	3. Meeting the Marauders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is September the 1st and Hermione meets the Marauders for the first time. The four of them are sure in for some surprises.

The rest of the week passed in a blur, and soon it was the 1st of September. The day after Minerva and Hermione had gone shopping the three of them decorated Hermione’s room. Both Albus and Minerva promised that Hermione could come and sleep in it any time she wanted once term had started, and that she could go and see them whenever she wanted to and for whatever reason. The rest of the week just involved the three of them spending time together and getting to know each other. It was fun. Though, she did show them some of her not so great memories. That wasn’t all that fun.

The three of them decided that Hermione should get the train to the school, that way she had some time to get to know the Marauders before they were surrounded by other students. Minerva would take her there, in a disguise so that no one recognised her.

So, at about half past ten on the morning of the 1st of September, Hermione and Minerva, who was in her disguise of blonde hair, sunglasses and clothes that no one would ever associate Professor McGonagall with, took the floo to a wizarding Pub near King’s Cross Station and then walked together, side by side, to the train station.

Hermione was wearing some skinny, black jeans and a black and white Queen print tank top with her black converse high-tops. Her hair was straight down her back and she wore some make-up, namely eyeliner, mascara and nail varnish.

“Your things will be in the dormitory when you get there. Albus is sending them there for you. Have you got the money for the snacks on the train?” Minerva fussed, in a motherly way, as they were walking.

“Yes. And I know a lot of pranks that I can help them with. And I have my school robes, and my wand.” Hermione replied, smiling widely at the older woman.

“Good. Do you know what you have to say?”

“Yes. I have to say that my name is Hermione Dumbledore because Dumbledore adopted me. And if they ask about being married to adopt someone I have to say that it’s Dumbledore and he can get away with most things. Then, if they ask why he adopted me I have to say that I’m a seer and I know some information he needs, but I’m not to say what information that is. Also that he knew my parents and he promised them he would look after me if they were to die. If they ask about what I see then I am to make up something which is close to the truth but not the full truth as the future as I know it has now been rewritten. And not mention Peter being a Death Eater just yet.”

“Good.” Minerva said as they arrived at the station and started making their way to the platform. The station looked pretty much the same as it did the last time Hermione had been there, Hermione smiled at the familiar feel of the place.

Soon they were on the platform and they turned to face each other. The platform was busy with excited students and their parents, all saying goodbye.

“I will see you later, then. Good luck with the Marauders.”

“Thank you. I think I’ll be okay, though. Do you think I should tell Remus I know about his condition?”

“It’s up to you. It might be a good idea, though. Then he won’t be as afraid of letting another person into the group, if he knows he can trust you and that you like him despite his condition. Now, you should probably get on the train. I will see you later. Have fun.”

“I will. Goodbye.”

They hugged for about a minute, Hermione not noticing the huge smile that took hold of Minerva’s face during the embrace.

Hermione got into the first carriage of the train, that way she could go through the whole thing to find the Marauders. She hadn’t found them but the time the train started to move, but she did find them ten minutes into the journey. They were sitting in a compartment towards the back of the train. James and Sirius were on one side. Remus and Peter on the other. She recognised who they were because James was a spitting image of Harry, except the eyes, and Sirius looked just like his older self, just younger looking. Remus also looked a lot like his older self, but he was also younger looking. And… Peter, the same went for him too. They were talking animatedly to each other as she knocked on the window of the door.

They stopped talking and turned to look at her, shocked. She slid open the door and smiled at them.

“Hello, I was just wondering if I could join you, every other compartment is full.” She said, they all looked speechless and she stood there, smiling at them.

“Uh, sure.” Sirius was the first to overcome his speechlessness.

She smiled again and walked in, shutting the door behind her as she took a seat next to Remus.

“My name is Hermione Dumbledore by the way. It’s nice to meet you all.” They all looked shocked again.

“Dumbledore?” James asked.

“Yes, Professor Dumbledore adopted me during the summer.”

“Don’t you have to be married to adopt someone?” Remus questioned.

“Maybe he is married. And, it’s Dumbledore we’re talking about, do you really think he has to be married to adopt someone. He can get away with anything. Or, nearly anything.”

“Why did he adopt you?” Sirius asked this.

“Two reasons, really. I am a seer and have some very valuable information for him and his cause. He was also friends with my parents and promised them that he would look after me if they died.”

“You’re new, aren’t you? I haven’t seen you around before.” Remus noted.

“Yes, I am new. I am going to be a fifth-year Gryffindor, though. I was sorted over summer. I previously went to Beauxbatons but Dumbledore wanted me to come here so that I can help him better, and so that he can help me too.”

“Wait, you said you were a seer, does that mean you know things about us and our futures?” Peter asked, looking slightly scared.

“Maybe… I know all of your names. I know that you three have finally been able to successfully become Animagi and that you plan to accompany Remus on full moons. Yes, Remus, I know about your condition. But I don’t mind, I’m here for you, whatever you need. I also know that you are all the school pranksters, you call yourselves the Marauders, and I know some pranks you might be interested in. And I know bits and pieces about your futures as well, but I will only divulge them if you want me to, bearing in mind that I can’t tell you too much, but little bits I can tell you.”

They all looked shocked again.

“Y-you know that I’m a…” Remus started but did not finish.

“Yes. I know. But it’s okay. I won’t tell anyone about your condition or that you three are unregistered Animagi. And I’m here for all of you, no matter what you need. So, what were you discussing before I walked in? Were you discussing your next big prank? Your holidays? James’ undying love for Lily Evans?”

They looked shocked again.

“You know that I love Lily?” James asked.

“Yes. I’m a seer. I also know that she likes you but won’t date you until you stop pranking Severus Snape, her best friend. So, if you love her and want to date her then I suggest you stop pranking him, and being mean to him. In fact, I suggest you all stop being mean to him, you know, to help James. Severus isn’t that bad a guy. I mean, I know he’s a Slytherin but not all Slytherin’s are bad. Your cousin Andromeda isn’t bad is she, Sirius, and she was in Slytherin. Also, he is incredibly clever, he might be a great asset to you if you become friends. I believe he is very good at potions, I’m not saying you all aren’t clever or good at potion, but his ability might help you with some pranks. I’m sure you do very well on your own, but, the more the better right. The more people you have the more pranks you can pull. I’m here to help as well, obviously. You never know, maybe Lily will start helping you out as well if you let Severus join in, then you can get to know her better, and date her, and more. But, I am just giving my opinion. You don’t have to follow what I say.”

“What happens if we don’t stop being mean to Severus?” James asked, as if he knows Hermione knew more.

“He will call Lily a mudblood after she tries to save him from one of your pranks, they will no longer be friends, and he will become a Death Eater, only to regret it at a later stage which I am not going to tell you, and then become a spy for Dumbledore. Surely you don’t want him to be a Death Eater, right? You can save him from his horrible fate by being nice to him, he will still be friends with Lily, and you will have an extra friend.”

“What else do you know?” Peter asked, again looking worried.

“Oh, I know a lot but I’m not going to divulge it right now. I think we should discuss your next big prank…”

“Please, tell us each one little thing about our futures!” Sirius whined.

“Fine. Sirius, you will be the godfather of James’ first born son. James, there’s a little bit of your future there, too. Remus, at some point there will be a potion invented, called Wolfsbane, that you will take, which allows the werewolf to keep their own mind during the full moon, however, I happen to know the recipe and so can get someone to make it for you now, before it has even been invented so there is part of your future that I have brought to the present for you. And Peter, you should probably be careful.” They all looked shocked, again.

“I have a son. Who with? What’s his name? Who does he look like?” James asked in awe.

“The first two things I probably shouldn’t tell you. But he looks an awful lot like you.” Hermione replied.

“What does mine mean?” Peter questioned, more worried now. Hermione just glared at him whilst the other three weren’t looking and he backed away in fear.

“You have the recipe for a potion that hasn’t been invented yet, that will allow me to keep my mind?” Remus asked with tears in his eyes.

“Yes. It won’t help with the pain of the transformation, but it will help you keep your mind. I believe Dumbledore is having the potions master, Professor Slughorn, brew it for you.”

“Thank you.” He whispered, a small smile playing on his lips.

“You’re welcome.” Hermione said, smiling back at him.

“Okay, I think we can discuss pranks now. You said you know how to help us with pranks, what have you got?” Sirius inquired after a few minutes of stunned silence. He looked rather excited to hear her ideas.

“Well…” She began, giving them plenty of ideas from the books she had read or from what Fred and George had told her. She also mentioned a few that Sirius and Remus had told her.

They spent most of the journey talking animatedly about pranks and what they could do this year. Hermione could tell that the three true Marauders liked her already, Peter on the other hand was very cautious around her. When the trolley came, Hermione paid for a lot of snacks for them to share and they enjoyed their food as they continued talking about pranks and hexes they could use on the student body.

Soon they had arrived at Hogsmeade station and they were climbing off the train, walking up to the carriages that would take them up to the Castle and climbing in one together. This time she sat in between Sirius and James, opposite Remus and Peter. They spent the journey up to the Castle talking about their summers.

“What’s it like being Dumbledore’s daughter?” Sirius wondered.

“It’s nice. He’s very kind and caring. He’s fun, too. He’s always there for me, for whatever I need. And he looks after me well.” She mused, realising that she was their daughter now that they had adopted her. She knew it anyway, in the back of her mind, but she didn’t know it in the sense that she didn’t really think about it in that way. Do they expect her to call them ‘mum’ and ‘dad’? She questioned herself.

It wasn’t long before they were parked outside of the entrance of the castle. They all clambered off the carriage and entered through the large double doors that led to the Entrance Hall. Then they made their way through the other large double doors and into the Great Hall, surrounded by other students who all hurry to their tables. The Marauders and Hermione sat at the back of the Gryffindor table, Hermione sitting in between James and Sirius, opposite Peter and Remus, again. The hall was loud with the sounds of chatter and laughter. The teachers at the High Table also talked among one another. There were two empty seats at the High Table though, the seats of Hagrid and Minerva who were tending to the first years.

Dumbledore found Hermione and smiled at her, she smiled back, nodding slightly so that only he could notice and he smiled brighter.

“So, when are we going to do the prank?” Sirius questioned excitedly.

“How about tomorrow morning, at breakfast? That means we have tonight to make the potion, in our dormitory. Hermione, you can join us if you want to. Then we can wake up early tomorrow, go down to the kitchen and ask for the potion to be put in everyone’s drinks. The house elves love us and would do anything for us. Then we can kick the first day of lessons off with a bang.” James suggested. They all nodded in agreement, even Hermione.

It didn’t take long for the first years to arrive and be sorted into their houses. Dumbledore made a short speech before allowing them all to indulge in the marvellous food that appeared on the table with a clap of his hand.

“Hermione, what lessons are you taking this year?” Remus asked as he put some chicken on his plate.

“Transfiguration, Defence, Potions, Charms, History of Magic, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient runes, and Astronomy.”

“If you’re a seer, why aren’t you doing Divination?” Sirius pondered.

“Just because I’m a seer it doesn’t mean I enjoy the subject. Also, is there really a point to learning how to tell the future if you can already do that?”

“Good point.” He said, nodding in agreement.

They spent the whole of dinner discussing their lessons and the teachers. They also discussed Quidditch and whether Hermione knew how to play or not. After the meal Dumbledore made another speech, reminding students not to go into the Forbidden Forrest and about the products Mr Filch has banned, etc. Then they were all dismissed.

The Marauders led Hermione up to Gryffindor tower, pointing out classrooms they passed, and secret passageways they have found, after making sure no one was around to listen. After speaking the password to the portrait of the Fat Lady, ‘lumos’, and climbing through the portrait hole, the five of them sat on the floor in front of the lit fireplace in a circle, Hermione sat in between Sirius and Remus, Peter was in between James and Remus.

They were just starting to discuss more pranks when Lily, Alice and Marlene walked over to them. Hermione knew Lily because of her eyes, they were exactly like Harry’s. She also knew Alice because she looked like Neville. And Marlene she deduced because she knew that she was the other girl in their year.

“James, who is this?” Lily asked, James’ eyes lit up at the fact that she mentioned his name.

“This, Lily-flower, is Hermione Dumbledore. She is Professor Dumbledore’s adopted daughter. She is in our year and she just transferred from Beauxbatons. She is also a seer and a very skilled prankster.”

“Hello, my name is Lily. This is Alice and Marlene. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you all, too.” Hermione responded with a smile on her face.

“You’re a seer? So, can you tell us something about our futures?” Marlene questioned, intrigued.

“Uh, well, I can’t tell you everything, in fact, it’s really ideal that I tell you nothing, but if you really want me to I can tell you one thing.” She answered, a little hesitant because she knew Marlene had died and didn’t know what to tell her. But the girls nodded their heads in excitement. “Okay. Lily, you have a son who has your exact eyes and is very brave. Alice, you have a son who looks a lot like you, and is also very brave. Marlene, you are very talented at your job.” The girls smiled at the thought of their future before heading to the dormitory to unpack.

James smiled brightly as soon as they left. “Lily has a son. I have a son. Is it the same son?”

“That I’m not allowed to tell you.” Hermione replied.

“Why?” James whined.

“Because, although I may see the future there is every chance that future might change. We can all do things to change it. It isn’t set in stone. I know things that will definitely happen and things that can change if things happen differently. Like you being nice to Snape and letting him be your friend will change his entire path, and it will change yours too. Also, I don’t see the full future, only bits and pieces. I don’t know when you all die. I don’t know what will happen in my future. And I know some things that have already definitely happened. Though, I am not going to tell them just yet.” Hermione explained, looking pointedly at Peter when they others weren’t paying attention, causing him to cower under her gaze.

After an hour of talking about pranks, in particular the one that would happen the next morning, the five of them made their ways up to the fifth-year boys’ dormitory to start brewing the potion, after Hermione had gotten the book with the recipe in from her dormitory.

The potion only took an hour to brew, but there were a lot of ingredients that needed to be prepared. They started preparing them in silence but soon the silence was broken by Sirius.

“Honestly, if this works, you will become an official Marauder, Hermione.” Sirius promised. James and Remus nodded in agreement, Peter, however, did nothing except concentrate on his ingredients.

“Thank you. I would be honoured to be an official Marauder.”

“Have you considered becoming an Animagus? It’s just, if you do become a Marauder then you will need a Marauder name. Ours are all based on our Animagi forms, or Remus’ ‘furry little problem’ in his case, we all got together over the summer to discuss our names. But you will need one too. We can help you become and Animagus, if you want, then you can come with us on the full moon.” James explained.

“I have considered it. It sounds interesting. It would be great if you can teach me.”

“Okay, I think I have a spare mandrake leaf in here, somewhere. That is if you want to start training now. The first step is keeping the leaf of a mandrake in your mouth for a month.” Sirius put in.

“How am I supposed to keep a leaf in my mouth for a month?” Hermione wondered.

“We used the sticking charm to stick it to the top of our mouth. It doesn’t do anything for the taste but it kept it there, and we managed to pull it off.” James stated, looking rather proud of himself and his friends.

“Okay, where’s the leaf?”

Sirius stopped preparing ingredients and ran to his bedside cabinet, opening the top drawer and pulling out a box. He walked back over to them and sat down on the floor again, opening the box and pulling out a mandrake leaf and passing it to Hermione.

“You might need help with the sticking charm. Unless you can do it wordlessly.”

She shook her head and he took out his wand as she put the leaf as best as she could against the roof of her mouth. Sirius pointed his wand at the leaf as best as he could and spoke the incantation he had memorised. The leaf was stuck to the roof of her mouth and she grimaced at the taste of it.

They went back to preparing ingredients and they were soon making the potion, working together, as a team, to get it right. It didn’t take long before the potion was finished and they had bottled enough of it for the whole student body, minus themselves of course. They packed away the ingredients and equipment and Sirius put the bottle of potion on his bedside cabinet.

“I should probably go and get ready for bed. It was a pleasure meeting you all and helping you with your pranks. Do you want to meet in the common room in the morning to go to the kitchen?” Hermione asked the boys.

“The pleasure was ours. Thank you for helping us out. And yes, meet us in the common room at seven so we have plenty of time to go to the kitchen and say hello to our little friends before breakfast.” James replied.

“Okay. Goodnight.”

They all said goodnight to her and she left the room with a proud smile on her face. She had successfully befriended the Marauders, other than Peter anyway. Now she just had to keep being friends with them, get them to trust her, and figure out how to spill the beans about Peter.

She entered her dormitory to find Lily, Alice and Marlene all sitting in their beds talking with each other. They all smiled at her as she walked in.

“Where have you been? When we went back down to the common room you and the Marauders weren’t there.” Alice asked her curiously.

“Oh, I was with them, in their room. Helping them with a prank.” She said nonchalantly as she picked out some pyjamas from her drawers and walked to the en-suite bathroom.

When she came back into the room, dressed in her pyjamas, the girls looked at her, shocked.

“You helped them with a prank?” Lily muttered.

“Yes. Don’t worry, it’s nothing too bad. It won’t hurt anyone.” Hermione responded as she sat, cross-legged, on her bed.

“We were wondering, James said Dumbledore adopted you, don’t you have to be married to adopt someone?” Marlene questioned, changing the subject.

“Maybe he is married. But, it is Dumbledore we’re talking about, don’t you think he could get away with not being married in order to adopt someone?”

“He is married? Who’s his wife?” Lily asked, surprised.

“I didn’t say he was married. Also, if he was, I wouldn’t be allowed to divulge that information. If he is married he is obviously keeping it secret for a reason. It’s not me who should be telling you. If he is, anyway.”

“You know if he is. He adopted you.”

“Yes, I do know if he is or isn’t married, and who he is married to if he is indeed married. But I still wouldn’t be able to tell you who his wife is, if he did indeed have a wife.”

“Can you give us a clue?” Marlene enquired.

“Nope. But, you never know, one day he might just announce it to the world, if he is indeed married anyway.”

“Does he have any other children?” Lily pondered.

“Nope.”

“Okay, we’re guessing… Is it Professor Sprout?” Alice guessed.

“No.”

“Madam Pomfrey?” Lily.

“No.”

“Madam Hooch?” Marlene.

“No.”

“Professor Sinistra?” Alice.

“No.”

“Professor Burbage?” Lily.

“No.”

“Professor Vector?” Marlene.

“No.”

“Professor McGonagall?” Alice.

“Nope.” Hermione lied.

“You gave a different answer for her?” Lily commented.

“I said basically the same thing. What makes you think his wife is one of the professors? That is if he even has a wife at all. You know what, let’s get some sleep, we have lessons tomorrow and we want to be well rested don’t we?”

“You’re dodging the question. It’s Professor McGonagall, isn’t it?”

“No.”

“Your adoptive mother is Professor McGonagall. We always thought that those two were more than just friends and colleagues. It’s so sweet.”

“No, my adoptive mother is not Professor McGonagall. I don’t even have an adoptive mother.” Hermione tried.

“Stop lying. Why would they hide their marriage though?” Lily asked.

Hermione sighed, giving up the battle. “They are hiding their marriage because if Voldemort knew about it then he would target them both. I mean, he targets everyone who is either muggle-born or against him anyway, but he particularly hates Dumbledore. So, if he knew that Dumbledore was married, to McGonagall, or to anyone, Voldemort would target them as well. They adopted me because of my seeing abilities and Dumbledore was a friend of my parents, he promised them he would look after me if they died. But I know how to destroy Voldemort, so I am helping Dumbledore to do just that.”

The girls looked shocked.

“You know how to destroy Voldemort?” Marlene whispered in awe.

“Yes. But I can’t tell you how.”

“Do the boys know you know how to destroy Voldemort?” Lily questioned.

“No. I can’t tell them that because…”

“Because what?” Alice asked.

“I can’t tell you that. Goodnight.” Hermione answered as she laid down in her bed, covering over with the red duvet as the other girls said goodnight.

It wasn’t long before Hermione fell into a peaceful sleep, after setting her alarm for six so that she had time to get ready.


	4. The First Day of Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lessons begin and Peter is up to no good.

Hermione woke up the next day before any of the other girls she shared a room with did. Crookshanks was sleeping at the end of her bed. She took some clothes out of her drawer and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She showered and dried herself before moisturising. She got dressed into her school uniform. She magically dried and straightened her hair before tying it into a high ponytail. She put on some mascara and eyeliner and left the room, the girls were finally awake, though they were slouching in bed, rubbing the sleep out of their eyes.

“Good morning. Did you all sleep well?” Hermione greeted cheerfully.

“How are you so happy at this time of the morning?” Alice groaned.

“Come on, Alice. She’s the daughter of the Headmaster, and Professor McGonagall. Of course she’s a morning person.” Marlene intervened.

“I’m just excited for my first day of lessons. Also, I’ve always been a morning person. Even before I was adopted. And you can’t tell anyone that they’re married, okay? And don’t tell anyone you got that information from me, either. If Voldemort or one of their other enemies found out they had a child, even that they’d adopted a child, I would be in danger, too. Also, they’d probably kill me for telling you.”

“You didn’t tell us, we figured it out.” Lily pointed out. “Also, we’ve been thinking that there was something more going on between them for a while anyway. The way they look at each other is pretty obvious. And they are always sitting together at the Head Table, and most of the time she is with him.” The other girls nodded along.

“I’ll see you at breakfast, I have to go with the Marauders.” Hermione told them before grabbing the bag that she packed ready before going to King’s Cross.

“Wait, why are you taking your bag? We don’t have our timetable yet so we don’t know what we have today.” Lily questioned.

“The good thing about being the daughter of the Headmaster and Deputy is that you can find out your timetable before everyone else does. Lily, we have double Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, and double Herbology. If you two have those subjects too then now you know.” Hermione left the room.

When she entered the common room the only other person in there was Sirius. He was sitting, dressed and ready for the day, on the sofa in front of the fire, staring into the flames. She went and sat next to him, successfully pulling him out of his thoughts.

He smiled at her and she smiled back.

“Hi. Are you okay?” She asked him, concerned as he looked quite deep in thought about something that was clearly bothering him.

“Yes. I’m fine, thank you. How’d you sleep?” He replied, trying to get the conversation off him.

“I slept well, thank you. Are you sure you’re okay? You looked very deep in thought about something. Care to enlighten me?”

“It’s nothing, really. Just family stuff. I’ll be fine. Why have you got your bag already?”

“I know what lessons I have today, so I packed in advance. Where’s the others?”

“Getting ready, they’ll be down in a bit. Do you know what lesson we have because you’re a seer or because Dumbledore told you?”

“Dumbledore told me. We have double Transfiguration, Potions, Arithmancy, and double Herbology. Do you even do Arithmancy? If not you’ll have something else then.”

“Yes, I do Arithmancy. The only lesson which you do that I don’t is Ancient Runes. James and Peter are the same. I’ll go tell them so we can pack our bags, then we can all go to the kitchen.”

Sirius sped up the stairs, leaving Hermione on her own.

Peter is the first to enter the common room. He looked at Hermione and scowled at her before prancing over.

“What do you know about me?” He asked quietly, just in case someone heard him.

“I know that you’re betraying your friends to Voldemort. I know that you’re a Death Eater. I know what you will do if I don’t do something about it. And I will tell them, eventually. But not just yet, I need them to trust me more than they already do.” She replied, just as quietly, glaring at him.

He looked scared for a moment, before his friends arrived, then he went back to his normal look, and so did Hermione.

“Let’s go!” James exclaimed excitedly.

They all left the common room, bags on their shoulders, the potion in James’ hand. They were nearly at the kitchen when Hermione noticed Peter was no longer with them. Then she realised he had probably gone to tell his Death Eater friends that she knew about him. But she didn’t mind, she could protect herself, and before long she would have the Marauders and possibly all of Gryffindor on her side, as well as the teachers.

“Guys, where’s Peter gone?” She asked as they were walking, trying to plant a seed of doubt in their minds, knowing that the sooner they started doubting him, the sooner she could tell them the truth, then the sooner they would be saved.

The three boys looked around for their friend, they were shocked that he wasn’t with them.

“Where is he? I thought he wanted to see the house elves. He isn’t going to start disappearing constantly again is he?” James pondered.

“What do you mean?” Hermione questioned, intrigued as to what James was talking about.

“Towards the end of last year he kept disappearing and we couldn’t find him anywhere. We didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. It was starting to worry us.” Remus answered in a worried tone.

Hermione figured that probably meant he was speaking with Death Eaters last year as well, or at the end of the year at least.

“Have you ever tried asking him where he goes?”

“We’ve tried to, but he always changes the conversation when we do. It’s like he’s keeping a secret from us. How good or bad the secret is we don’t know.” Sirius replied.

Hermione nodded in understanding, trying not to let the anger show on her face.

They soon arrived at the kitchen and James tickled the pear to let them in. The house elves were all working on breakfast, but when they saw the boys they all stopped working and rushed over to them, all bowing and smiling in delight.

“Hello friends. How are you all on this fine morning?” James greeted, smiling brightly at the elves.

“We’re good, thanks Master James. How is the Marauders?” A young female house elf replied in a high pitched, squeaky voice.

“We are also good Pinky, in fact we are fabulous. We have someone for you to meet. House elves, meet Hermione, the newest member of our group, Hermione, meet the house elves.” Sirius introduced.

“Oh, we knows each other already, Master Sirius. We met her during the holidays. Master Dumbledore introduced her as his new daughter.” Pinky told them.

“Hermione, why didn’t you tell us you had already met them?” Sirius groaned.

“Because I wanted to see how you went about introducing us. Now, why don’t we get on with what we’re here to do?” Hermione replied, smiling.

“Okay, Pinky, we need you to put a drop of this potion in every students’ drink, except ours. Don’t put it in the teachers’ drinks though.” Remus told Pinky as James gave her the potion.

“Of course, Master Remus. Where is Master Peter?”

“He’s checking on something for us.” James lied.

Hermione wondered how many times they had to lie about his whereabouts to people. She felt sad for them, and angry at Peter. But she tried not to let it show.

They talked with the house elves for about half an hour before walking slowly up to the Great Hall, excited to see their prank work. They sat at the back of Gryffindor table and Peter soon joined them, apologising for leaving them.

“Where did you go, Pete?” Remus asked.

Peter looked shocked, his eyes flickering to Hermione briefly before looking back at Remus.

“I remembered that I had left my parchment in our dorm so I went to grab it.” He lied. Hermione could tell that he was lying by the fact that he was biting the inside of his cheek and his hands were shaking lightly.

They ate breakfast, talking about whatever came to mind.

It wasn’t long before people started drinking their drinks and their faces morphed into that of a lions. The Slytherin’s were the most annoyed. The Marauders were laughing, the few teachers that were supervising breakfast looked slightly annoyed, but awed at the cleverness of the infamous pranksters.

McGonagall soon started handing out the Gryffindor’s timetables and when she got to the end of the table she smiled at them.

“I like the choice of animal, but how long will this last?” She asked, she sounded slightly annoyed, but Hermione could tell that she was, in a way, proud of her students’ cleverness.

“In an hour, Minnie. Don’t you worry. Actually, it was Hermione’s idea.” Sirius explained.

“I see you’ve made quite an impression on these boys, Miss Dumbledore. Have you joined their little group?” Minerva asked, smirking at Hermione who smiled back.

“Indeed I have. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure they don’t do anything too dangerous.” Hermione replied, smirking also.

“I’m sure you will. I’ll see you all in class, be sure to have the correct book this time, Mr Pettigrew.” Minerva said before walking away, Hermione could see the hint of anger at Peter in her eyes before she left, though.

“What was that about, Peter?” Hermione questioned, intrigued.

“Oh, that was hilarious. Peter brought his Charms book to our first Transfiguration lesson last year and because he wasn’t really paying attention…” James started.

“He was checking out some Hufflepuff girl.” Sirius added.

“He didn’t have a clue what we were doing, so instead of turning the cat into a teapot, he sprayed a bucket load of water at it and it ran away. I don’t think the cat has been found since, poor thing.” James finished and they all burst out laughing, excluding Peter whose face was turning a bright red colour.

When they were done eating they made their way to Transfiguration. They were the first students to arrive as everyone else was still in the Great Hall, trying to change their new faces to their normal faces. Minerva looked at them and told them to take a seat. They sat at the table in the front of the class. Hermione sat between Remus and Sirius.

“I take it everyone’s going to be in the Great Hall trying to change their faces back to normal for a while.” Minerva said to them with a small smile on her face.

“Probably.” Sirius answered as they got out all of their needed equipment.

“Okay, then. I want you all to read and take notes on what is on page one of the book whilst we’re waiting for everyone else to arrive. Also, can you give me your summer homework please?”

The four old Marauders gave her their homework and they all got to work, reading about turning a hedgehog into a pincushion and making notes about it. Eventually people started to gradually file in, they shared the class with the Hufflepuff fifth years.

Lily, Alice and Marlene sat at the table behind the Marauders and Hermione, who were all done making notes at that point and were waiting for the class to begin. The Hufflepuff’s sat at the back tables.

“Now that you are all finally here, we may begin. The people who actually turned up on time know what we are doing today and will begin on the charm once I have discussed what we are doing. We will be turning hedgehogs into pincushions, today. If you could all turn to page one everything you need to know about the charm is there. I would like you to read the page and take notes on what you read, when you are done and have fully understood the process put up your hand and I will give you a hedgehog for practise. Please note, that if the pincushion has a pin in it you haven’t done it correctly. I would also like to have your summer homework on my desk by the end of the lesson, please. Get on with it, then. Are you five ready for a hedgehog?” Minerva asked, looking at the five students in the front row who all nodded.

Minerva levitated five hedgehogs over to them and placed one in front of each of the five students. They started practising and Minerva sat on the chair behind her desk, watching the students as they worked, but mostly her new daughter.

Hermione managed to do the spell correctly on her third try, faster than any other student she had ever taught. Minerva was proud as she watched her daughter who, after doing the spell correctly the first time, kept doing it correctly, again and again, but changing the colour or style of the pincushion each time. Occasionally she purposefully left some pins in, but most of the time she didn’t. James, Sirius, Remus and Lily were the next to perfect the spell. But her eyes were mostly on her daughter. The daughter she loved as if she was her own already, the daughter she was incredibly proud of.

The double lesson flew by, everyone had perfected the spell by half way through the second period, so they moved onto the next thing they were going to learn.

Hermione had fun on her first day of classes. Her and the Marauders had the same lessons and stuck together all day, getting to know each other more. They ate lunch together as well, sitting in their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Peter was mostly quiet, but Hermione talked with the other three a lot. Enjoying herself, knowing that there wouldn’t be any major trouble for the first time in her education.

After lessons they had an hour before dinner, Hermione told the boys she needed to go and speak to Dumbledore and left them in the common room for a bit, but really she went to see Minerva. She wanted to ask the question that had been bugging her since the previous night.

She knocked on the door to Minerva’s classroom, hoping she was still there. And she was, she called for her to enter and smiled when she saw Hermione coming into the room and closing the door behind her. Hermione smiled back at her as she made her way towards her new mother, who was sitting on the chair behind her desk, marking summer homework.

“Hermione, I was proud of your work in class today. You were very good.” Minerva told her, smiling proudly. Hermione blushed.

“Thank you. I just thought I should let you know that Lily, Alice and Marlene know that you and Albus are married. I didn’t tell them. They guessed. They had been suspecting that you two were more than friends for a while. I made them promise not to tell anyone, though.”

“That’s okay. People are going to find out eventually. Especially your friends. Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Minerva asked, still smiling.

“Yes. I was wondering… I mean, you and Albus adopted me, and… I was wondering if you wanted me to call you mum and dad. I mean, I am your daughter now. And…” She broke off, not knowing what else to say.

“Hermione, you can call us whatever you want to call us. So long as you call us Professor in front of people, except maybe Albus as you took his last name. We understand that it is difficult for you, being here, without your friends and family, so we understand if you need time to get to that. You don’t have to call us ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ if you don’t feel comfortable doing that. It’s an honour to have such a wonderful daughter whether you call us those names or not. Honestly, neither of us mind.” Minerva explained. “Just know that I love you as if you were my own daughter already, though. Albus loves you also. And we will always be here for you. And we will try and be the best parents possible.”

“You already are.” Hermione told her, smiling.  

“How are things going with the Marauders? I see you’ve already gotten quite close to at least three of them.”

“Yes. Peter doesn’t like me because he knows that I know he’s a Death Eater and plan on telling the other three at some point. James, Sirius and Remus, however, like me. They’re great people. It’s weird being around James though when Harry didn’t get the chance to know him. And Sirius, Remus and Peter considering I know their older selves. But I’ll get used to it. I did find out something interesting, though.”

“What?”

“It turns out that towards the end of last year Peter started disappearing occasionally and the boys couldn’t find him anywhere. So I’m guessing he spent that time with the Death Eaters. I found out because he disappeared this morning when we were on the way to the kitchens to give the potion to the elves. I think he might of told them that I knew the truth about him and plan on telling his friends. He also might have told them that I’m a seer that has valuable information for Albus and his cause. Possibly that Albus adopted me also, so Voldemort is probably assuming Albus is married and trying to guess who his wife might be. He lied when he joined us in the Hall, saying he forgot his parchment and had to go back and get it. But the others brought the lie, at least I think they did. I could tell he was lying because his hands were shaking and he bit the inside of his cheek. He also looked at me briefly.” When she finished speaking, Hermione noticed that Minerva looked angry and smiled at how much she cared about the three true Marauders.

“Well, whatever happens Albus and I are here to protect you. So are your new friends. When are you planning on telling them the truth about Peter?”

“I don’t know. I want to soon, so that he can’t give away any more information about them, but I need them to trust me fully first. And I don’t know how to tell them. How can I tell them that one of their best friends is betraying them to Voldemort?”

“It will hurt them, they have been as close as brothers since their first year. But I’m sure you’ll figure out a way. But, as for the trust issue, I think they already trust you, I mean you did help them pull off a successful prank. Did you get the idea from one of the books you brought?”

“Yes. I did. They’re very interesting books actually.”

“I’m sure they are. Just try not to prank me or Albus.”

“What about the other staff members?” Hermione smirked.

“So long as it doesn’t hurt them I’m okay with you pranking them.” Minerva smirked in return.

She liked this Minerva, she liked the Minerva in the future as well as she was her favourite teacher, but this Minerva, who wasn’t as strict, and a lot more cheerful was better. She was still strict, but she wasn’t as so. Hermione presumed that the fact she lost the ability to have children and the fact some of her favourite students had died had something to do with her change in demeanour.

“It’s nearly dinner time, I should probably get back to the common room so that I can walk down with the boys. Thank you, for everything.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Hermione, it’s my job to look out for you.”

They smiled at each other before Hermione left the room. As she left she found Albus walking down the hall towards her. He was smiling brightly at the sight of her.

“Hermione, how was your first day of lessons?” He asked.

“It was good, thank you. How was your day?”

“Oh, you know, same old, same old. Paperwork, followed by more paperwork. Were you just speaking to Minerva?”

“Yes, I wanted to ask her something.”

“Good, good. Why don’t you wait here whilst I grab her, then we can walk down to the Hall together?” He suggested.

“Sure.” She smiled, she can meet the boys at their spot on the Gryffindor table.

He smiled brighter and entered the room after knocking. Soon he came back out with Minerva at his side. She smiled at her daughter as she saw her and they started walking together.

“I see you’ve made some friends, Hermione?” Dumbledore said, smiling down at his daughter.

“Yes, I have. Every Gryffindor I have met are great. I haven’t had much chance to meet other people, but I’m sure everyone else is good also.”

They talked about random things along their way. When they arrived all of the Gryffindor’s were already there, and some members from the other houses, as well as all the staff. Hermione bid her parents goodbye before making her way to the Marauders who were talking amongst each other whilst they ate their food. She sat next to Sirius and started helping herself to the food on the table, joining the conversation.

But when she took a sip of her orange juice a sharp pain filled her body and she cried out, falling off the bench and onto the floor as her body started twitching uncontrollably. Tears filled her eyes and she cried through the pain as the Marauders, Lily, Alice, Marlene, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey surrounded her with worried faces, except Peter, who tried to look worried but she could see that he knew this was going to happen to her.

Her teary eyes widened at him before she fell asleep. The pain exhausting her.

Poppy conjured a stretcher and levitated the unconscious Hermione on to it. She levitated the stretcher up to the hospital wing, everyone that had surrounded Hermione following behind her. Minerva and Albus were at the back of those following, holding hands, trying to comfort each other, hoping their new daughter would be alright.

Poppy levitated Hermione onto a bed and started casting diagnostic spells on the girl as the others watched, most of them watching in fear, one of them watching, hoping he had done some serious damage.

Poppy gasped at what she found, looking up at the others in fright.

“Poppy, what’s going on? Is she okay?” Albus asked, worriedly.

“She’s been poisoned.”

The others looked shocked, and scared. Well, Peter was trying to look those things, fighting back the grin that was building up. He had destroyed the girl who could ruin everything.

“Is there a cure? Can we fix this?” Minerva asked as tears filled her eyes, not bothering to cover them as she cried for her daughter.

“There is a cure, but it depends on how long Slughorn takes to make it. We only have two hours to get it into her system or she will...” She didn’t want to finish that sentence, knowing how much it would pain her best friend to hear the last word. She told them the name of the potion that can cure Hermione and Albus conjured his Patronus and spoke to it a message to Slughorn, telling him to hurry in making the potion and bringing it to the hospital wing. He then told the students to go to the common room and he would tell them when he had some news.

When the students were gone Minerva and Albus sat on either side of their daughter and took one of her hands in one of theirs, both crying.

“Who do you think did this?” Poppy asked them.

“Peter.” Minerva said. They looked at her in shock.

“Peter Pettigrew? Why would he do this?” Poppy questioned, confused.

“He’s a Death Eater. Hermione told me before dinner that he disappeared this morning and has been disappearing since towards the end of last year. But he lied when he came back about where he went. She told him this morning that he knew what he was, that she was planning to tell the other Marauders. This was before he disappeared. She thinks he disappeared to speak to the other Death Eaters about her, telling them she knows who he is, that he’s Albus’ adopted daughter, and that she is a seer who knows important information for our cause. He had to be the one to do this. It doesn’t make sense for it to be anyone else. He’s the only Gryffindor in their year that doesn’t like her.”

Poppy looked more shocked at this.

“How are we going to find out if it was him or not? We need proof.” Poppy said.

“We could tell the whole school what happened and that they have to be submitted to questioning under Veritaserum to find out who did it, just in case it was one of them. Then Peter wouldn’t be too suspicious.” Albus suggested.

“But he would know that he would be found out. We could secretly question people. Just call random students up to your office and question them. Start with the Gryffindor’s in her year, though.” Poppy replied.

“Or just ask the Marauders to come up to your office with us, spike them all with Veritaserum, secretly, and ask them questions. Then they will find out the truth without Hermione having to interfere, and they will be saved.”

“Saved? Saved from what?” Poppy asked.

They told her the truth about where Hermione came from, knowing they could trust her as she was Minerva’s best friend. Poppy was shocked nonetheless, but she understood that it had to be a secret and knew that this was the best way to save the three Marauders, and to save Hermione part of the job she was asked to do.

Slughorn rushed into the infirmary with the potion ten minutes before the two hours were up. He gave the potion to Poppy and she spelled it right into the girls body. Hermione had gotten paler the more time the potion was in her. Minerva, Albus and Poppy getting more and more scared.

Hermione’s colour started coming back to her and her eyes moved. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times before she started crying. She was still in pain. But she wasn’t twitching anymore.

“Mummy.” She whimpered quietly through the tears. “Daddy.”

“Hey, sweetie, we’re here. We’re right here. You’re alright.” Minerva said as calmly as possible as she gently wiped away her daughters’ tears with the pad of her thumb. She tried to ignore the joy at being called ‘mummy’, and it wasn’t hard in this circumstance.

“It hurts.” The girl whimpered again. Poppy spelled a pain relieving potion into her and she breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still crying. “It was Peter. He did it. He knew it was going to happen. He…”

“We know, sweetheart. We know. Don’t worry, everything will be okay. We’ll sort everything out.” Albus reassured her. “We’ll make sure he can never hurt you again.”

“Where’s Crookshanks?” Hermione asked.

“Probably in the common room. Do you want me to get him for you?” Albus replied.

She nodded and Poppy spelled a light sleeping potion into her, causing her to fall asleep.

“I’m going to go to the common room and tell them she’s okay, then ask them to come with me to my office and I’ll question them. Horace, do you have some Veritaserum I can use?” Slughorn was still there, watching in amazement.

“Yes. Accio Veritaserum.” He said, his wand pointed in the air.

Soon a vial of Veritaserum was in his hands and he gave it to Albus.

“Thank you. Poppy, can you come with me and get Crookshanks for her. I know you don’t approve of pets in the hospital wing, but she needs him.” Poppy nodded.

Albus, Poppy and Horace left, the first two walking to the Gryffindor common room and the latter heading to his office. Minerva stayed with Hermione.

When the door to the common room opened the nervous huddle of Gryffindor fifth years looked at it to find Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey stepping into the room.

“She’s okay. Lily, can you help Madam Pomfrey find Crookshanks for Hermione, please. Boys, I would like you to follow me to my office, please.” The boys nodded, looking nervous. Even Peter looked nervous now. But they stepped out after him anyway.

When they arrived at his office Albus conjured four chairs and made them sit in front of his desk whilst he sat behind it, wordlessly and windlessly spelling the Veritaserum into them.

“Sir, what is this about? Hermione is okay, isn’t she?” Sirius asked, worried.

“Yes, she’s fine. Or she will be. What I brought you here for was to find out if you had any idea who did this to her? Does she have any enemies or anything?”

“I did it.” Peter spat out, before looking shocked and scared that he said it. Not meaning to say it.

The boys looked at him, shocked.

“What?” Remus growled, angry.

“I did it. I poisoned Hermione.” He looked shocked again.

“Professor, you can tell when people are lying, you know everything. You can tell us he’s lying, right?” James hoped.

“I’m sorry James, but I just drugged you all with Veritaserum. I hoped he wouldn’t have done it, but now I know that it is the truth.”

The three boys turned back to their friend looking angry, and scared.

“Why? Why did you do this?” Sirius yelled. “You could have killed her.”

“That’s what I was meant to do.” Peter retorted.

“Why? Why would you want to kill her?” Remus growled, his inner wolf coming out slightly.

“Because she knew. She knew that I am a Death Eater. She was going to tell you. But that would have ruined my plans. I told Voldemort, that’s where I was this morning. I was telling him that she knew about me, that she was going to tell people, that Dumbledore adopted her, that she was a seer. I couldn’t let her ruin everything. He gave me the poison, and I drugged her at dinner, putting it in her drink.”

The boys were shocked, tears filling their eyes as they heard him speak.

“You’re a Death Eater?” James questioned quietly.

“Yes. I’ve been telling Voldemort about you three, all of the other students, and the staff since the end of last year. I got the Dark Mark during the summer. I’ve been one of his spies in this school. I was also spying on your family, James.”

“Who else is a spy in this school, Peter?” Dumbledore asked.

“Avery. Nott. The Carrow twins. Some other Slytherin’s. He’s also trying to get Snape and Regulus to join, but they won’t.”

“Why did you join?” Remus wondered. Sirius looked too shocked to speak.

“Because compared to you three I am nothing. I’m not good looking, or smart, or talented. You are the ones who get all the attention. Not me. I want to be noticed. I want to be appreciated. The Dark Lord promised that. With him I am appreciated.”

“He appreciates no one, Peter. He just uses people to do most of his dirty work. He’s using you. We were your friends, your brothers. We appreciated you. We loved you. We trusted you.” Sirius said, glaring at his old friend.

“Have you hurt anyone else for him?” James asked, not really wanting to know the answer, but needing to know.

“Yes. I tortured Regulus the first time he refused to join. To get the Dark Mark you need to kill and torture at least one person. I killed a Muggle and tortured Snape for refusing to join.”

Sirius punched him after losing control of his anger. They were all furious with him.

“Mr Pettigrew, I am sorry, but I will not allow you in my school any longer.” Dumbledore told the boy who now clutched his cheek, trying to reign in his own anger.

“No, sir. You can’t. If you do he will torture me for being foolish enough to get caught. Please, you can’t kick me out of here.”

“Mr Pettigrew, you have tortured two of my students, poisoned my daughter, and killed someone. I will not allow someone who commits those crimes in my school and around my students.”

“What about the other Death Eaters?” Peter retorted.

“I will also remove them from the school. You three can go to the hospital wing, the serum will wear off in about ten minutes.” The three boys nodded and left the room, more tears sliding down their cheeks.

Albus conjured his Patronus again and gave it a message to give to Horace.

“Professor Slughorn will accompany you home, I will send your things over tomorrow. You are hereby banned from this school.” Albus told the boy who was still clutching his cheek as Horace stepped through the floo, looking gravely at the boy.

“Is your home connected to the floo network, boy?” Slughorn asked him.

Peter nodded and stepped into the fireplace, dropping the floo powder he grabbed and speaking the address clearly. Horace followed after him.

Albus walked back to the hospital wing, wanting to see his wife and daughter again.

When he entered he found his daughter still sleeping in her bed, Minerva was still sitting next to her, holding her hand. Crookshanks was cuddled into Hermione’s side. The three boys were sitting in chairs next to the bed, looking at Hermione guiltily, obviously thinking it was their fault for not knowing the truth about their old friend.

He walked over to them and sat on the other side of his daughter, looking down at her sadly.

“Is he gone?” James asked in an angry tone.

“Yes.” Albus answered before they sat in silence.

All of the hoping that Hermione would be okay.


	5. Telling Them the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione tells the Marauders the truth about where she came from, how will they react?

The next time Hermione woke up it was seven in the morning and the morning light was streaming through the cracks in the curtains. She looked around and noticed that Crookshanks was sleeping, cuddled up next to her, and Sirius was sitting in the chair, looking at her with a sad smile on his face and tear stained cheeks.

“Good morning. How are you feeling?” Sirius asked, trying to sound cheerful but failing to do so.

“Sore, and tired. How are you? What happened?” She replied.

“We found out the truth about Peter. Your father took us to his office and gave us all Veritaserum, he then asked us if we had any idea who did poisoned you, and Peter admitted to it. He told us everything. Then your father made him leave the school. Your parents would be here now but they had to get ready, they can’t have a day off, so I told them I’d look after you today. They’ve given us permission to have the day off classes to heal mentally. And Poppy wants you to stay here today to see if you’re okay or not. I’m sure the boys will be down later but I couldn’t sleep so I thought I’d come down here.” He said, smiling gently.

Hermione smiled back, thankful that Sirius was there with her. In all honesty she had a crush on him, but she didn’t think she could admit to that yet. She wanted to get to know him more. He was good looking, and kind, and caring, and fun. But she wanted to know more. He was wearing some black jeans and a dark blue Queen t-shirt. His hair was shoulder-length and combed neatly, his muscles showed beneath his t-shirt.

“Why didn’t you tell us? The truth about Peter, I mean. You knew, so why didn’t you tell us straight away?” Sirius questioned.

“I wanted you three to trust me more. Before I told you. That way you would have believed me more.”

“We would have believed you anyway, you’re a seer. If you saw something we would have believed you about it. Also, we trusted you the moment you told us about our futures, the moment you said you knew about Mooney and wouldn’t tell anyone. The moment you said you knew we were Animagi and wouldn’t tell anyone. We trusted you. What did you see to know that Peter was a Death Eater? You were awfully vague about our futures. All you told us was that James had a son, I was the son’s godfather and Remus will be able to take a potion that hasn’t been invented yet but will allow him to keep his mind when in wolf form. What else do you know?”

“Well, hopefully, since you’re not friends with Peter anymore and he isn’t here what I did know won’t happen. I made it my job to change the future so that it was better for you all, and James’ son. I think I have just succeeded even if it isn’t really because of me that you know the truth about Peter. So, hopefully, I have just saved all of your lives.”

“What do you mean? Saved our lives? What did Peter do?”

“He hasn’t done the thing that ruined your lives yet, and because he is no longer here I seriously doubt he will ever have the chance to do it. So, don’t worry, I’m sure everything will turn out okay.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Hermione.” He almost yelled, she could tell that he was getting frustrated, that he wanted to know what his friend was going to do to them.

“I can’t tell you. Unless my parents deem it okay for me to tell you. I will speak to them at lunch and see if I can tell you, okay? But you won’t like it.”

“Okay. I’m sorry for yelling. You don’t deserve that.”

“It’s okay, Sirius. I understand that you just want to know what your friend is capable of doing. I understand. I’m sorry that Peter isn’t the friend you thought he was.”

“It’s not your fault. You have no need to apologise.”

They were silent for a minute before the door opened and James and Remus entered the room. Crookshanks woke up at that moment and Hermione sat up, with the help of Sirius, leaning her back against the wall which James put a pillow against to make it more comfortable for her. They were wearing casual clothes, too, jeans and a t-shirt. Crookshanks moved to sit in Hermione’s lap and the boys sat in three chairs around the bed.

“How are you feeling, Hermione?” Remus asked, she could tell he had been crying as well. So had James.

“I’m okay. Sore and tired. But I’ll be fine. How are the two of you?”

“We’ll be fine.” James replied, not knowing what else to say.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth about him sooner. I wanted to, but I wanted you to trust me more first.”

“It’s okay, Hermione. At least we know now. That is all that matters.” Remus told her, smiling sadly at her.

“But, hey, you can be our fourth Marauder now. We just need to wait for you to become an Animagus so we can think of a name for you. Have you still got the leaf in your mouth?” James said cheerfully.

“Yes, it really does taste vile.” She said, pulling a face as her tongue ran over the mandrake leaf that was stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“Well, after today you only have twenty-eight days left.” James informed her.

“Yay, twenty-eight days of tasting this horrible thing.”

They were disturbed by Pinky apparating into the room with a pop. The elf wore a sad smile on her face as she looked at the four friends.

“I heard what happened. I’s sorry.” Pinky apologised, looking down at her feet.

“You don’t have to apologise, Pinky. You did nothing wrong.” Hermione told her.

The elf looked up and smiled brightly at her.

“Mistress Minerva asked me to comes and asks what you all wants for breakfast and brings it to you.”

“I will be fine with some strawberry jam on toast with some fruit, and a glass of orange juice. Thank you, Pinky.” Hermione told the elf.

The boys ordered scrambled egg on toast with orange juice each and she popped away again. Only to return five minutes later with a tray floating in front of her which contained the food and drinks that were ordered. She gave everyone their plate of food and put the drinks on the bedside tables on either side of the bed and popped away with the tray, after they all said ‘thank you’ to her.

When they had done eating Poppy checked on Hermione, a sad smile on her face when she saw the friends together.

“You look fine but I would like you to stay here until tonight, that way I’ll know if you’ve had an allergic reaction or something to one of the potions.” Poppy said before making the empty plates and glasses pop away to the kitchen with a wave of her wand. “If you need anything give me a shout. I will check up on you every couple of hours.” She told them before leaving back to her office.

“So, what’s it like having McGonagall as a mum?” James asked with a cheeky look in his eyes.

“How do you know?” Hermione questioned.

“They told us last night when we wondered why she was here as well as Dumbledore.” Remus explained. “Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone.”

“Okay. And she’s nice. She’s kind and caring, a true mother figure. I have to save her as well.” She said.

“Save her from what?” Sirius asked, the other two looked confused.

“Why do you need to save people?” James pondered.

“She had to save us from Peter, but she can’t tell us why yet, not until she has spoken to her parents about telling us why. And she thinks she’s succeeded as we aren’t friends with him anymore. Hermione, continue.” Sirius explained to them.

“Well, at some point she may be hit with a curse that destroys her reproductive system and means her and Albus can’t have the children they want to have when the war is over. I have to make sure that doesn’t happen but either ending the war before it happens, or making sure she doesn’t do anything that could get her in that situation during the year it happens.”

“Or you could try and make them have a baby before that year just in case it does happen. Then they have you and a child of their own to make them feel better just in case it doesn’t work out.” Remus suggested.

“Good point. But they don’t want to bring a child into this world until the war is over, and I seriously doubt I can change their minds, I understand completely considering I know what can happen if you have a child during a war. And I don’t know how long it’s going to be before we can find all the things needed to kill Voldemort.”

“Why don’t you let us help you? We can help you find what you need to find in order to kill him. We can duel. We are relatively clever. We might be able to help.” Sirius put forward.

“Because I’m here to save you, I’m not putting you in more danger. Also, you’re not part of the secret organisation that my dad has formed to destroy Voldemort and his Death Eaters, so you can’t really do much anyway.”

“We can ask him if we can join. He knows how good we are. And we can protect ourselves.” Sirius retorted.

“I’m sure you can, Sirius. But I don’t want your future to be the way it was meant to be. I don’t know what’s going to happen now that Peter is out of your lives, I may have saved you from that fate but it doesn’t mean that you’re completely safe. It doesn’t mean you’ll be happy. And that is what I want you to be, so I am not letting you do anything unless it means no fighting. I can’t lose you. I can’t let Harry live the same horrible life that he will unless I save you all.” She argued.

“Who’s Harry?” James asked.

Hermione just stared at James with sad eyes and it took him about a minute to understand.

“Harry is my son?” James whispered. “What happens to him if you don’t save us? What do you need to save us from? Why did you need to save us from Peter? What did he do?”

“I can’t tell you yet. I need to speak to my parents and ask them if I can tell you the truth. You deserve to know. I will speak to them at lunch. I’m sure they will come and see me then.”

They all looked confused, but she paid no mind to it. She knew they deserved to know the truth, the full truth. And she knew she could trust them to not tell anybody. She knew that they would still be her friends. She knew that they deserved to know why she wanted to save them, the truth as to why she wanted to save them.

She felt tears fill her eyes and she didn’t bother holding them in, she let them fall. Sirius stood and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her, before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him in a comforting embrace. She leaned into him, breathing in his scent, which she loved. His scent made her feel safe and protected. It reminded her of home as it was the same scent he wore when they were in Grimmauld Place. It made her feel loved because Sirius cared for everyone, not just Harry. And now she was falling for the boy who wore the scent.

As she clung onto Sirius she didn’t notice the boys’ worried looks to each other. Each of them worried and wondered about the future, wanting to know what could have happened to them, or what could still happen to them. They wanted to know what James’ son had to do with any of this.

Unbeknownst to Hermione, Sirius was falling for her, too. She wasn’t like other girls who fawned over him because of his looks. She didn’t fawn over him at all. She wanted to get to know him, be his friend, she didn’t care about his looks. And that was attractive to him. She was also very pretty. Her hair and eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen. She has a beautiful personality as well. He wanted to know more about her.

Hermione eventually cried herself to sleep in Sirius’ warm arms. He gently helped her to lay down and he sat back in his seat, watching her with a sad look on his face.

“What do you think happens? What do you think she knows?” Remus questioned his friends.

“I don’t know. But it doesn’t look like it’s good. She said she had to save us. From Peter. She had to save Harry. But I don’t know what your son has to do with any of this, James. I mean, she’s a seer, so she probably knows some stuff about him, but what could your child have to do with anything?” Sirius replied.

“What I want to know is who Harry’s mother is, and when he’s going to be born. And a lot of other things as well. But, I want to know if I have a shot with Lily. And what happens. And what she meant by saving Harry from his horrible life.” James said.

“If you paid attention on the train, she said you have a shot with Lily if you stop pranking Severus and be nice to him.” Remus reminded him.

“Maybe we should apologise to him, after what we found out from Peter. I also want to speak to Regulus.” Sirius muttered, but they both heard it.

“Well, when we next see Lily we can ask her to bring Severus and Regulus to talk to us, tell her that we want to apologise, tell her what we know. She deserves to know that her best friend was tortured by someone we thought was a friend.” James suggested.

Remus and Sirius nodded in reply and they went back to watching their new friend sleep in silence. All three of them pondering what Hermione knew and could tell them. What could possibly be so bad to send her into tears.

At lunch time Minerva and Albus arrived to find the three boys talking silently and Hermione sleeping. They said the boys could go to the Great Hall for lunch and that they would look after her during the hour they had for lunch. They left and the couple sat on either side of the bed, looking down at their daughter. Minerva brushed a stray strand of hair out of her daughters’ face and tucked it behind her ear, causing the sleeping girl to wake up.

She smiled sadly up at them and sat up, Albus helped her get comfortable.

“How are you feeling? Sorry we weren’t here when you woke up, we had to get ready and work.” Minerva spoke in a gentle voice.

“I’m sore and tired, but I’ll be okay. Can I ask you something?” Hermione asked.

“Of course, dear. Anything.” Albus replied.

“I know I’m not supposed to tell anyone the truth about where I’m from. But I think the Marauders deserve to know. They want to know why I wanted to save them from Peter, and I can’t fully explain that without telling them everything. I need them to know so that they know why I want to save them. I’ll make sure they don’t tell anyone, but I think they need to know so that they can protect themselves, and so that they know what they shouldn’t do in order to have a life. I can’t stand lying to them, I need them to know so that I don’t have to worry about slipping up, so that they understand why I behave the way I do. I need to tell them. Can I?”

“Okay, you can tell them, I think they deserve to know also. But they have to promise not to tell anyone else the truth.” Albus answered.

“Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, are you hungry? We can ask Pinky to bring us some lunch.”

Hermione nodded and Minerva called for Pinky, who appeared a second later.

“Yes, Mistress McGonagall. How mays I helps you?”

“Could you bring us up some sandwiches please, Pinky? And three glasses of apple juice.”

“Of course, Mistress McGonagall.” Then Pinky disappeared again, returning five minutes later with a large plate full of sandwiches and three glasses of apple juice which she left on the bedside table. “Is that all Miss?”

“Yes, thank you, Pinky.”

Pinky bowed and popped away again.

They ate in relative silence, Hermione thinking about how she was going to tell her friends the truth, her new parents just wanting her to be alright.

Five minutes before the lunch hour was over the boys returned and her parents left after each of them had kissed her forehead and promised they would see her later that evening. The boys sat in their seats and waited for the doors to close to say anything.

“Are you allowed to tell us?” James asked, he almost sounded desperate.

“Yes. Just promise to keep an open mind, and not to hate me or anything afterwards.”

“Why would we hate you?” Remus questioned, confused.

“I haven’t been entirely truthful with you. I’m not a seer. It’s what I’ve had to tell everyone because if people knew the truth about me then I could be in danger. However, I think Voldemort now knows the truth about me, or he knows I know how to destroy him and thinks I’m a seer, so he’s after me. Hence the reason Peter poisoned me.”

“If you’re not a seer then how do you know us, and about our futures?” Sirius pondered.

“Because I’m from the future.” She said, and they all looked at her, beyond shocked.

“How are you from the future?” Remus asked.

“I was born on the nineteenth of September, nineteen seventy-nine. I’m a muggleborn. I completed four years at Hogwarts, in Gryffindor house. I started Hogwarts in nineteen ninety-one. I know you all, and your future, or what would have been your future had you still been friends with Peter because I know you all in the future. Actually, I know Sirius, Remus and Peter in the future, but I know of James, and I am best friends with Harry. Dumbledore sent me back to this time to save you three, Minerva, and everyone else who will die, also to destroy Voldemort before he can cause too much damage. I know of the Wolfsbane potion because it is around in my time, and Dumbledore gave me the recipe to bring back here, for Remus. But now that I’m here I will not be able to go back. I won’t be born, and my life will continue with yours. So, I won’t be best friends with Harry, if you all still want to be friends, I could be considered his aunt. Do you believe me and want me to tell you what happened in my timeline, or do you want me to stop and let you take it all in for a bit?”

They still looked shocked, but they looked like they believed her.

“You’re from the future?” Sirius whispered.

“Yes. I am from the future.”

“What do you mean by you know of me?” James wondered.

“Well, I assume you are all okay for me to continue?” They all nodded their heads. “Okay, I’m sorry to say that you won’t like this in any way, but bear with me. So, you know how Peter is a Death Eater, well, in my timeline you didn’t know. He hid it well enough. James and Lily got together in your seventh year, and after Hogwarts you all joined the Order of the Phoenix, the secret organisation I mentioned earlier. James and Lily got married sometime before the autumn of nineteen seventy-nine, I don’t know when exactly. And in that autumn Lily got pregnant. But there was also a prophecy made at the time Lily got pregnant, about a boy born at the end of July, to parents who defied Voldemort three times. It said that that boy would be the one to destroy Voldemort, and he would have the power the Dark Lord knew not, and neither of them could live whilst the other survived. Basically, either the boy would kill Voldemort, or Voldemort would kill him. There were two possibilities of who this boy could be. Harry, or Neville, who is Frank and Alice’s son. But Voldemort thought it meant Harry. You and Lily went into hiding whilst Lily was pregnant, under the Fidelius charm, with Peter as your secret keeper. It was meant to be Sirius, but he knew someone was betraying you all and figured he would be the obvious choice, he managed to convince you to change to Peter, as no one would suspect him. No one knew you had switched, people still thought it was Sirius, and it was at first. Anyway, your son was born on the thirty-first of July, nineteen eighty. He had your looks and Lily’s eyes. He was also exceedingly good at Quidditch. He played Seeker, he was the youngest Seeker in a century. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A year and three months after Harry was born, on Halloween night, Voldemort came to your home. Peter had told his where you were. James, you died first, and Lily died protecting Harry. Then, when Voldemort tried to kill Harry the killing curse rebounded and hit him instead, Lily’s sacrifice protected him. All Harry was left with was a scar, and Voldemort had lost all his powers and became nothing more than a spirit. He wasn’t dead, but he was gone. Harry was placed with Lily’s sister, her husband and their son. But they were horrible to him. He had to be placed with them because they were his only remaining family, and Lily’s sacrifice meant he would be protected from Death Eaters so long as he was with someone who was related through blood to Lily. They made him sleep in the cupboard under the stairs until he got his first Hogwarts letter. They lied to him about how you died, and who he was. They made him do most of the chores. They barely fed him anything compared to his cousin. It was horrible. But anyway, after you died Sirius went after Peter to get revenge. Peter shouted at Sirius, asking why he betrayed Lily and James and killed twelve muggles before cutting off his finger and turning into his Animagus form to escape. Sirius was caught and put into Azkaban without a trial as everyone thought he was guilty of being your secret keeper, and therefore betraying you to Voldemort, then for killing Peter and the twelve muggles.

I don’t know what happened to Remus in those years, I’m guessing you went away somewhere to get away from it all. Peter went into hiding as my other friends’ rat. Shortly after your deaths Frank and Alice were tortured into insanity by some Death Eaters, Neville was then raised by his grandmother. But then, in my third year at Hogwarts, Sirius escaped from Azkaban in his Animagus form, you were skinny enough to fit through the bars, and Dementors can’t feel the feelings of an animal, so you could escape. And Remus became my Defence teacher, you were the best Defence teacher we ever had, just to let you know. Harry became rather close to you Remus, you were the only one who had told him proper stories of his parents at that time. Towards the end of the year we found out what had really happened that night, that Sirius was innocent. We caught Peter but he escaped, it was a full moon and Remus was out there with us. When we were distracted he slipped away in his rat form again, back to his old master. We managed to help Sirius escape, though, and you went into hiding. Remus had to quit his job because someone told everyone he was a werewolf.

Then, in our next year there was the Triwizard Tournament. Except, Harry’s name was put in the Goblet by a Death Eater disguised as Alastor Moody, who was meant to be our Defence teacher. But he was horrible. During the final task, Harry and Cedric, a friend and Harry’s fellow Hogwarts champion, both got to the Goblet first. It was turned into a portkey by the Death Eater that was disguised as Moody. It took them to a grave yard, Peter killed Cedric. That was when Voldemort returned to his full power, with the help of Peter. Harry nearly died, too, but he managed to get back to Hogwarts. After that the Order was reformed, you two were part of it, Headquarters was at Twelve Grimmauld Place. I was there for a week before Dumbledore sent me back to help you three and everyone else.”

When she had finished, she had tears sliding down her cheeks. She looked up and saw that her friends were crying as well.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered. She didn’t know what to do now.

Soon she found herself encased in three pairs of arms and she giggled slightly before wrapping her arms around them as best as she could.

“You don’t have to be sorry, Hermione. We’re not friends with Peter anymore, we should be safe now.” James muttered into her hair. “My son will know his parents, I promise.”

“I promise I will keep you all safe. Just promise me you won’t fight unless it is absolutely necessary. I can’t lose you. I can’t let Harry grow up without his parents again. I can’t let Harry grow up without a proper family, without love and care. They never gave him any presents; his clothes were hand-me-downs that were way too big for him. They called him names. They locked him in his room with bars on the window. I can’t let him go through all that again. He doesn’t deserve it.”

“We promise. I want to raise my son. I don’t want him to be raised by those awful people.”

“Just promise not to get killed yourself. We need you, too. Harry needs a decent aunt after all. And we need a fourth member of our group.” Sirius said.

“Okay, I promise not to die. But you can’t tell anyone the truth about me.”

“We won’t. After all, you’re keeping our secrets.”

“I can’t believe Lily and I get married, and have a child.”

“Yeah, but, can you try and get together before your seventh year, it would help me believe that I can actually save you more if I know I am already changing things.”

“You have changed things. We know the truth about Peter because of you. You probably just saved our lives.” Remus replied.

“That’s what I was trying to do.” Hermione murmured.

“And we thank you for it. Now, I know you don’t want us to fight but we might be able to help you find the things you need to destroy Voldemort. So, what are they?” Remus suggested.

They all pulled away from each other and Hermione told them about the Horcruxes and what Dumbledore thought they could be, as well as where they might be.

“You could ask the Grey Lady about where the diadem is. She is Rowena’s daughter, she might know where it is, and possibly what might have happened to it.” Remus told her.

“You are a genius.” Hermione replied.

“Thank you.”

“I might be able to help you get into Malfoy Manor.” Sirius claimed. They all looked at him, shocked. “My cousin, Narcissa, she’s marrying Lucius in the summer, I could get you in there and we could find the diary. It’s probably hidden in the library somewhere. And I happen to know the layout pretty well. I have to go because she’s my cousin, whether I like her or not. Do they have a kid in the future?”

“Yes, his name is Draco and he is going to be the same age as Harry, if you have Harry when you did anyway. But he wasn’t very nice, completely stuck up, and a wimp. He wouldn’t start anything unless his friends Crabbe and Goyle were with him. He called me a ‘Mudblood’ in our second year. And I punched him in our third year for making fun of someone. It felt good.”

“Nice.” Sirius cheered, holding his hand up for a high five and she gladly gave him one. Her skin tingled as she felt his palm against hers.

They spent the time until dinner talking about random things, and laughing. All the while, Hermione was hoping that everything would work out in the end, that her new found friends would survive, that Harry would have the family he had always wanted, that Minerva and Albus could have the child they wanted.

And that she might be able to have a good life as well.


	6. Apologies and Ideas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three remaining Marauders apologise to Severus for their pranks and bullying, and start to become friends with Severus and Regulus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't like McGonagall/Dumbledore relationships then you won't like this story, and definitely this chapter.

When the four friends entered the common room that night after Hermione was released from the hospital wing she was immediately embraced by Lily, who she happily hugged back.

“Are you feeling okay? Who poisoned you? I’m sorry I didn’t visit today but I needed to go to classes and…” Lily rushed.

“Lily, if you would like to know what happened then you could follow us to our room.” James said, cutting Lily’s rambling off.

Hermione had decided that she should probably tell Lily the truth as well as a lot of it concerned her. Or Harry.

“Okay.” Lily agreed as she let go of Hermione.

The five of them walked up the stairs and entered the boys’ bedroom, which still had four beds in, even though there were only going to be three boys sleeping there from now on.

“Are you okay, Hermione?”

“I’m fine, Lily.” Hermione replied as she sat on Sirius’ bed with him. No one sat on Peter’s bed, James and Lily sat on James’ and Remus sat on his.

“Where’s Peter?” Lily asked, looking confused when the boys’ facial expressions changed to angry ones.

“He got expelled.” Hermione told her.

“What? Why would he get expelled… unless…?” Lily said as a look of understanding crossed her features. “He’s the one that poisoned you. Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s a Death Eater.” Sirius growled.

Lily looked shocked.

“No, he can’t be. Peter’s so kind, and…”

“Lily, he is a Death Eater. Not only has he poisoned Hermione, with the intention to kill her because she knows how to destroy Voldemort, but he’s also tortured Severus and Regulus, because they refused to become Death Eaters, and he has killed someone. He admitted to it under the influence of Veritaserum.” James informed her gently.

“He tortured Severus?” She whispered as tears filled her eyes at the thought of her best friend being tortured.

“Yes. I’m sorry Lily. We were wondering if you could get him and Regulus to meet us some time, we want to apologise to Severus, for everything we’ve done to him, and for what Peter did to him, and Sirius needs to talk to Regulus.” James replied.

“O-Okay, I can try.”

“Thank you, Lily.” Remus said.

“I also need to tell you the truth about me, you’re probably not going to like it. But you have to promise never to tell anyone. The boys know already, but it concerns you as well and I think you need to know, to protect yourself.”

“I promise.” Lily assured Hermione.

So, Hermione told her everything that she had told the boys, she mentioned Remus being a werewolf and the three others being unregistered animagi because the boys had said it was okay to share their secrets with Lily, she also didn’t know how to explain what happened any other way; and by the end of it they were all crying. James was holding Lily, trying to comfort her as she cried for their son.

“I’m sorry, Lily.” Hermione cried.

Lily turned in James’ arms to face Hermione, and it was then that Hermione realised that she had a hand on her belly, probably because she was thinking about Harry.

“It’s not your fault Hermione. But thank you for trying to save us, a-and our son.”

“He was my best friend. He deserves a better life. He deserves parents, and love, and care. I’m sorry that your sister didn’t give him that.”

“Petunia hates me, and everything to do with magic. Did we not have a will that stated where he had to go if we both died and Sirius wasn’t able to look after him?”

“I don’t think so. But it was the only place he could go in order to be protected from Death Eaters. But hopefully this time it won’t happen because you’ll know that if you need a Secret Keeper then Peter isn’t the best person to choose. And he is no longer friends with you, so that should mean that you’re okay.”

“What… What was Harry like?” Lily asked, and they all looked at Hermione, curious as to what the little boy was like.

“Well, he looked a lot like James, but he had Lily’s eyes. He was an excellent Quidditch player, he got onto the Gryffindor team in first year because he caught a Remembrall for our friend Neville and Professor McGonagall caught him doing it, she made sure he got on the team and even brought him a broom, the fastest broom at the time, it was the first present he received since before you two died. He was so brave, he had fought Voldemort a number of times over the years and had defeated many creatures. He always put everyone else before himself and was always very adventurous. He was smart too, but I always felt like he held back a bit in lessons, probably to do with his relatives, they told him he couldn’t do better than their son in school, so he always had to pretend to be stupid, I think that might have passed on through Hogwarts as well. Though, he was very good at Defence, he got top marks in our third year thanks to Remus’ wonderful teaching skills. You also taught him to cast a corporeal patronus, and I saw him cast one a few times, he was particularly good at them, it’s form was a stag.” She saw James smile brightly. “He was kind, and caring. He always had a knack for finding trouble. Though, he didn’t purposely look for it, trouble found him. He hated bullies, probably because he was bullied at home and school before Hogwarts. After the Triwizard Tournament he gave Fred and George, the pranksters of Hogwarts in my years, his winnings because he didn’t want them or need them. He tried to get Cedric’s parents to take them, but they refused, telling him he deserved it for bringing Cedric’s body back with him. But instead he gave his winnings to the twins so that they could open the joke shop they wanted to open and had been inventing things for for years. He always cared more about others than he did about himself. He was a good person and a good friend. And I’m sure he will be all of those things, and more, when you raise him.”

They were all smiling sadly at her, still crying as well but not as much.

“He sounds amazing.” Lily whispered in awe, her hand still on her belly, as if protecting Harry even though he wasn’t even in there yet.

“He was amazing. And I’m sure he will be just as amazing when he is born.”

“Though, that does mean that you and Prongs need to get together at some point, hopefully soon, then get married, and pop out Prongs Junior as soon as possible because I want to meet him.” Sirius joked, causing them all to laugh as they wiped their eyes with their hands.

They spent the rest of the warm Wednesday night talking and laughing about random things, the Marauders happily welcoming Lily as part of the group, and Lily happy to be with them. Lily and Hermione went to their room in the early hours of the morning, hoping to get at least some sleep before their lessons the following day.

…

The next day, in the hour between the last lesson and dinner, Hermione went to see Minerva for another discussion. She found her new mother sitting behind her desk in the Transfiguration classroom, marking essays, but Minerva looked up when the door closed behind her daughter, smiling at her.

“How are you feeling today?” Minerva asked her daughter, worried.

“I’m fine. I was just… I was wondering if we could talk.” Hermione responded nervously.

“Of course we can. Do you want to talk here or in my office?”

“Your office?” Minerva nodded and led the girl through the door in the back of the class and into the comfortable looking office. They sat on the sofa by the fireplace, facing each other.

“How are the boys?”

“They’re fine. Still angry at Peter, and upset about what I had to tell them, but they’ll be fine.”

“Good. What did you want to talk about?”

“I, um, I…”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I just… I understand why you’re waiting, I really do. But I…”

“Waiting for what?”

“To try for a baby.”

Minerva looked shocked, but curious also. “Why are we talking about Albus and I waiting for a baby?”

“It’s just… I mean, I completely understand why you’re waiting. I know what can happen if you have a baby in times of war. But, I mean, I’m here to save you as well as everyone else. And I don’t know if I will be able to save you from that curse, because I know that it is highly unlikely for me to be able to save everyone. And I want to save you, so that you can have the children that you want. But I was thinking, I mean, just in case I can’t save you from that curse, maybe you could try for a baby now. That way you will have a child of your own, instead of just me, if I can’t save you. I know you love me like I’m your own daughter, but I’m not, and I don’t want you to be hit by that curse and not have the one thing you’ve always wanted. I know you’ll have me, but I’m not enough. I know we have three years before you get hit by that curse, but, relatively speaking, three years isn’t a long time, and we don’t know where half of the horcruxes are, and we haven’t killed the basilisk yet or anything so we have nothing to destroy them with. Then there is actually killing Voldemort himself, and either killing or imprisoning his followers. I understand why you’re waiting, but I think you should try for a baby now. That way I won’t feel as bad if I can’t save you. And you might feel slightly better, knowing that you already have your own child, I’m not saying you will feel great, but you will already have a child and that might help ease the pain slightly because you won’t have no children of your own at all. And I researched it, there are ways of hiding a pregnancy, so you can be pregnant and no one except the people you want to will know. I just… I don’t want your life to be ruined because I couldn’t save you.” Hermione finished, noticing the tears in Minerva’s eyes. “I would also feel better knowing that I am changing things, and that things are different, and will continue to be different. I know that Peter is no longer here and that he can’t get back in because dad warded the school against rat animagi. And I know that he can’t hurt anyone here anymore because he isn’t friends with the Marauders anymore. And that maybe James and Lily will live, and be parents to Harry for longer than a year and three months. Or that they will get together sooner, get married sooner, or have Harry sooner. And that Sirius might not end up in Azkaban, and Remus might not be alone. But I need to change your life too. I need something different, other than the presence of me, to happen in your life. That way I can think that I might actually make a difference, I might actually be able to save you, at least, partially. I need to change things so that less people live rubbish lives, so that less people suffer.”

“Hermione, Albus has already agreed to let me go on the least dangerous missions, the ones that are less likely to involve battles. And he…”

“What if it was one of the least dangerous missions that you were hurt in? What if there was a smaller chance of a battle but they found you and that is how you were hurt? That’s not enough for me. I need to know that you will be alright. I need to know that if I can’t save you, you at least have the one thing you always wanted first. I understand why you’re waiting, I would be scared too. But I need to know that I am actually doing something to help. That I am actually making a change to your lives. That I am actually doing what I came here to do. And what’s the harm if you get pregnant now, if you have a baby now, and I can save you, if you aren’t hit by that curse. Then you can just have more children. I’ve always wanted siblings. But I can’t just sit back and know that I’m not making any real changes to your life, that I’m not helping you. I need things to be different so that I know that you’re okay, that I might actually be able to save you.”

Now they were both crying as they stared at each other.

“I’ll think about it.” Minerva whispered as another tear leaked out of her eyes.

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I understand. But know that you are making a difference. And know that no matter what happens, I will always love you as if you are my own daughter.”

“I know. I love you, too.”

Minerva smiled at her daughter before pulling her into her arms.

They stayed like that until there was a knock on the door, followed by Albus entering the room to find his two favourite girls hugging each other with tear stained faces.

“Are you two okay? You missed dinner. Why were you crying?” He asked, worried.

“We’re fine, we were just talking.” Minerva replied, not knowing what else to say.

“I’ll leave you both to it. I’ll go to the kitchen on the way to the common room.” Hermione said, untangling herself from her mothers’ arms and standing up.

“The boys took some food to the common room for you, I believe.” Albus told her.

“Okay, thank you. See you tomorrow.” Hermione responded before leaving the room.

Albus looked at his wife, worried.

“Are you okay?” He questioned as he sat next to her on the sofa, facing her. “What were you both talking about?”

“I… Can we try for a baby?” Albus looked shocked as he heard his wife ask this question.

“B-but…”

“I know we decided to wait, and why we decided that would be a good idea. But I want a baby so bad, and Hermione… She doesn’t feel like she’ll be able to save me, or everyone that she is here to save. She wants to know that she is making some real changes in our lives so that she feels like she can save us, that she can save me. She wants us to have a baby so that, in case she can’t save me, we’ll have a child of our own, then she won’t feel as bad, and we won’t feel as bad because we’ll have a baby. She wants us to have a baby so she feels like she’s making some real changes and might believe that she can save me. And I want a baby, I have done since we got married, and I’ve wanted to be a mother since I was a child. But I understood why you wanted to wait. I wanted to wait for those same reasons, but I don’t think I can wait much longer. Hermione is right, what if she can’t save me and we don’t have any children of our own? Yes, we’ll have her, she’ll always be our daughter, but I’ve always wanted to get pregnant, and give birth to a child, my child, our child. Then raise that child. What if I get hit by that curse and I can no longer do the one thing I have always wanted to do? It would break me, it did break me in her timeline. But we have the opportunity to change that. I know there is a chance I won’t get hit by that curse, but there is also a chance that I will, and I don’t think I would be able to handle it if I got hit by that curse and didn’t already have a child of my own. I need to do this. I need to have a baby, Albus, our baby. And there are ways of hiding a pregnancy, Hermione researched them. And we are fully capable of protecting our child, so are our friends. Please, can we try for a baby?” She explained before he had the chance to refute the idea.

Now that he thought about the idea of having a baby at that moment he didn’t mind it. Even though he was scared out of his wits at the thought of something happening to their child, and to Hermione. But he wanted a child just as much as she did.

“Okay, we can try for a baby.” Minerva beamed at her husband’s response.

“Really?”

“Yes. I want a baby, too.”

And she kissed him, passionately. “I love you, so, so much, Albus Dumbledore.”

“I love you too, Minerva Dumbledore.” He replied before picking her up and carrying her through to their private quarters and to their bedroom, where he gently placed her on the bed.

And soon, they were trying for a baby.

…

When Hermione arrived at the common room she was dragged to the boys’ dorm by her fellow Marauders and Lily. They sat in the same places they had the night before and Sirius put some food in front of her.

“Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying.” Sirius asked, worried.

“I’m fine. I just had a heart to heart with my mum.” Hermione answered as she started eating a sausage.

“What about?” Lily pondered.

“Why I’m here, among other things.”

“On Saturday, we’re meeting with Severus and Regulus to discuss Peter and other things.” Remus informed her. “I know you haven’t really met them but do you want to come?”

“Yes please. Have you figured out what you’re going to say to your brother yet, Sirius?”

“No, what do I say to him? I spent most of the summer with James, Remus, and… we spent some of it with Peter. Then I find out that someone who I thought was my friend tortured my brother. My family hate me enough as it is, but…”

“It’ll be fine. You’ll figure something out.” Hermione supported, patting his hand with hers as a comforting gesture as she tried to ignore the sparks shooting through her as their skin touched.

For hours they talked about nothing in particular; classes, the holidays, music, pranks. Whatever really came to mind. Lily was feeling more at home with the group of friends, and they were enjoying her company more and more. Hermione just hoped that she was doing enough to allow them to live better lives.


	7. Meeting and Order

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione goes to her first Order of the Phoenix meeting.

Two days later the Marauders and Lily were making their ways to the Black Lake, which is where they agreed to meet Severus and Regulus. Despite it being early September it was relatively warm, and it was dry. The five of them stood under an oak tree waiting for the two Slytherin’s to arrive, and they did, five minutes after themselves, both looking nervous. Lily hugged Severus and he hugged her back, Hermione noticed a slightly jealous look in James’ eyes.

“Remember James, remember that she will end up with you, they are just friends.” Hermione whispered to him. And soon the jealous look was gone, replaced by a small smile.

“What did you want to speak to us about?” Severus asked nervously, probably expecting another prank to be pulled on him.

“We wanted to say sorry, for all the pranks we pulled on you, and for being horrible in general.” James started, causing Severus to look shocked.

“Yes, we’re sorry, for everything. And we promise not to pull a prank on you, or be horrible to you again.” Sirius continued.

“We also wanted to apologise, to both of you, for what Peter did to you over the summer.” Remus added.

Now Severus and Regulus both looked shocked, and scared.

“How did you know about that?” Regulus asked.

“He admitted to torturing you both, killing someone, and poisoning Hermione, whilst under the influence of Veritaserum. We didn’t know that he was a Death Eater, and we’re sorry he hurt you. But he has been expelled now, and we hope he never hurts you again.” Remus explained.

“And we hope that we can at least be civil to one another, and maybe, work our way up to being friends. We know it will probably take a while for you to forgive us but we are sorry for being horrible to you, Severus. And Reg, you’re my brother, and I love you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you this summer, but mum and dad, they don’t make it easy for me to stay there. But I promise that I will try and be there for you more, and if you need anything then all you have to do is ask and I will do whatever you need me to do. And I want you both to know that there are people who are working on destroying Voldemort, and they know how to now, and soon He won’t be a problem, and he won’t be able to hurt you much more.”

“Well, it depends how long it takes us to find and destroy the Horcruxes, then to kill Voldemort himself. But it shouldn’t take too long. And if you two want to help then you can, but I won’t allow you to physically fight, just come up with some ideas on how to get the items, destroy them, and then to kill Voldemort. If you want to know more, and help us, then you’re going to have to not tell anyone about it, and we’re going to have to meet somewhere private. Do you to know where the Room of Requirement is?” Severus and Regulus shake their heads. “Okay, well, you know on the seventh floor there is a tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy?” They nod. “Stand opposite the tapestry and pace in front of it three times, thinking about meeting us, a door will appear and you will enter and find us waiting for you. Meet us in there tomorrow at eleven in the morning if you want to help, and there may be ways that we can help you escape the Death Eaters as well. I will also have to explain a few things to you. But I will explain more tomorrow, if you come. You don’t have to come, of course. But the more people we have to help us, the sooner we bring Him to an end, the sooner everyone will be safe.” Hermione said, taking in the Slytherin’s shocked faces.

“How do you know you can trust us to help you?” Severus questioned.

“Because you haven’t given me a reason not to trust you. And I need the help. You both seem smart, and as the boys have said, we would like to be friends with you both. So, what better way to make friends than allowing them to help us with what we have to do? Also, Peter almost killed me because I know how to destroy his master, and Voldemort knows that I know how to destroy him, I need help. He may move all or some of the objects we need, but I don’t think he knows if I know where they are or not, so he may not have done so. But, either way, I need help. As I said, I will explain to you tomorrow, if you come to the Room of Requirement.”

They just nodded.

“Could I… could I have some time alone with Regulus, please?” Sirius asked.

Everyone nodded and left the two boys alone.

“I will meet you all at the common room.” Lily said before leaving with Severus.

Hermione, James and Remus walked back up to the entrance of the school.

“I have my first Order meeting tonight. I won’t be in the common room until late tonight, I have to leave pretty much straight after dinner.” She informed the two boys.

“Oh, good luck. Are you going to tell Severus and Regulus the truth about you?” James pondered.

“Yes. I need more help, sure, the Order can help me, and I have you four as well. But, I think they deserve to know. That way I can make sure they don’t become Death Eaters and live to regret it. And I’ll have two extra people to help me figure out where the items are and how to get them, as well as destroy them. I also think it will help them see that you aren’t really that bad, and maybe forgive you sooner, and maybe be friends as well. Then I know that I’m making another change that will help me feel like I can save you all from your fates. If they don’t become Death Eaters I have saved them, I have saved Lily the pain of losing her best friend, and I have done more to save Harry from having to go to his relatives. It also might help Lily and you get together sooner, which means I have made more of a difference, and I will believe that I really can save you. If possible, I need you to get married and have Harry sooner as well, or later than when you do have them. But we can work on that. And if we get rid of Him soon, then there won’t be an issue and I have saved you. Then you can have children whenever you want to and you will all be safe.”

“And what about yourself, Hermione?” Remus asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re working so hard to save all of us that you’re not thinking about yourself. We can all tell that you like Sirius, and that Sirius likes you. But you’re so focused on us that you don’t think about yourself and what you want. I know this is war, and that you’re working to defeat the darkest wizard in the world, but surely you can be happy as well? You deserve to be happy, Hermione. And you don’t deserve to wait until He is gone and we’re all safe.” Remus argued as they walked into the Entrance Hall and started heading for the common room.

“Remus has a point, you know, when are you and Sirius going to get together? A blind person could see that you two like each other. I mean, he was the one out of the three of us that cried the most when Peter poisoned you, and he was so worried about you that he didn’t sleep at all that night, and he was the first of us to go and be with you. And he’s been highly protective of you ever since. Before you say that you haven’t noticed that, he has checked all of your drinks for poisons, he is very adept at wordless and wandless spells, he taught himself how to do them. He has also made sure that the house elves check the food in our area for poisons before sending it up, they do it because they love us so much. He also makes sure to have you close to him in case something happens. He likes you Hermione, and I can see that you like him, too. So instead of worrying about when Lily and I are going to get together, or when Remus is going to find someone to fall in love with, and yes, I know you want Remus to find someone so that you know he will be okay if you can’t save us, and so that you know you are making a real change in our lives, you need to get together with Sirius to make a real change in his life, and to make sure you can save him. You deserve to be happy too Hermione.” James told her as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Remus spoke the password, shocked at what James had said also, and the door swung open. They entered and made their ways up to the boys’ bedroom. Hermione sat on Sirius’ bed and the boys sat on theirs. “You’re even sitting on Sirius’ bed, and you have done since we started coming up here to discuss the future, and other stuff.”

Hermione blushed causing her two friends to laugh.

“I need to concentrate on why I’m here.” Hermione whispered, but they both heard it as their animal senses kicked in.

“You can do that and date Sirius at the same time, you know. And Sirius needs some more love in his life. I mean, we love him like he’s our brother, but his family all hate him for being placed into Gryffindor, and for liking Muggles. He needs a family, and you can provide him with that, and the love and care he needs. And he can help you with what you need to do, we all will. But you both deserve to be happy, and you don’t need to wait for Voldemort to die before you can be together.” James argued.

“And, I’m curious as to why you think I need to fall in love. I can’t… I’m a monster, no girl would love me.”

“Remus, you’re not a monster. You haven’t killed anyone, or hurt anyone. Just because you turn into a wolf once a month doesn’t mean you are a monster. And you’re so smart, and brave, and kind, and caring, any girl would be lucky to have you.” Hermione replied.

“Yeah, and what if we have a child? What if I pass my lycanthropy onto them? Then my child would be in pain because of me. I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.”

“Remus, I’ve done some research, the only way a werewolf can pass on lycanthropy is through biting someone at the time of the full moon. You can’t pass the wolf down to any child you may have because it’s not a hereditary disease. Also, there may be a way to find a cure for lycanthropy.”

“How?” He asked, shocked.

“Well, I have the recipe for the wolfsbane potion. That, in a way, cures the mind of a werewolf by allowing them to keep their own mind instead of becoming someone that would kill their best friend if they weren’t in an animal form. So, I was thinking, if we study that recipe, and look into different plants and potions, etcetera, then maybe, we may be able to make a cure. It may take a while, but some of the ingredients in the potion might work in a cure, then if we study other things and their healing properties, then we may be able to fix something up to cure you, and other werewolves, of course. I’ll just have to ask Slughorn if I can have a copy of the recipe, and since I’m the one who gave it to him I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“You are a genius, Hermione! Remus, we will find you a cure, no matter how long it takes.” James exclaimed.

“And what if we can’t find a cure?” Remus questioned.

“Then you still won’t be a monster and any girl will be lucky to have you.” Hermione told him.

Sirius walked into the room and smiled at his friends before moving to sit next to Hermione on his bed.

“What were you and Regulus talking about?” Hermione asked him.

“Oh, just home and stuff. I promised that he could talk to me whenever he wants, and stuff. I think I have my brother back. What were you three talking about?” He responded, smiling.

“We’re going to try and find a cure for Remus.” James stated excitedly.

“What? How?”

“Well, I have the recipe for wolfsbane potion. I figured we could use that, study it and other plants and things to find out their healing abilities, and maybe, one day, we could come up with a cure for him. I mean, the potion cures the mind of a wolf if it is taken properly. So maybe, if we use some or all of those ingredients, with some others that have other healing properties, we might be able to make a cure. It might take a while, but we should be able to do it if we work together. We could get Lily, Severus and Regulus to help as well. That is, if you don’t mind me telling the other two about your lycanthropy, and you two being illegal Animagi, it’s a lot harder to explain the truth without those details. Also, the more minds we have working on it, the better. Also, in my previous time Severus was the Potions Professor here, he had a mastery in the subject as well, so he might be a good person to help us with it if he is as adept at potions now as he is in the future.” Hermione explained.

“I don’t mind.” Remus said. “Thank you, for wanting to try.”

“You’re very welcome, Remus.”

…

After dinner Hermione said goodbye to her friends and walked to her new mothers’ office. She found both of her new parents in there, waiting for her, talking about the meeting.

“Hermione, just in time. Have you used the floo network before?” Albus asked, smiling gently at her with twinkling eyes.

“Yes, where is Headquarters? I’m guessing you’re Secret Keeper again?”

“Yes, I am. It’s at McGonagall Manor. Do you want to go first?”

“Sure.”

“Okay, you will come out in the living room, just wait there for us and we will take you to the meeting room.” Minerva told her.

She nodded and took a handful of floo powder before stepping into the fireplace and doing what she had to do.

The living room was beautiful, the main colours being red and cream. There were two large, dark red sofas, and a dark red armchair. There was a mahogany bookshelf full of books lining one wall. A cream carpet. A mahogany coffee table. She didn’t have much more time to study her surroundings as Minerva and Albus came through the fireplace, smiling at her. Minerva used a charm to clean them and the floor, getting rid of the soot successfully.

They led her through the double, mahogany doors and through the double doors on the opposite side of the wide hallway. In the room was a large square mahogany table with roughly thirty mahogany chairs. The three of them sat in three chairs next to each other on the far end of the table, opposite the door, waiting for everyone else to arrive.

“How many Order members are there?” Hermione asked, curious.

“Including us three, thirty-one. All of us working in different places and doing different things to help stop Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We have a squib, too, she keeps us informed on the goings on in the Muggle world and helps us to disguise ourselves if need be. She’s also quite clever and comes in very handy.” Minerva explained.

“Do the boys know about this group?” Albus asked her.

“Yes, but only so they can help us figure out where the Horcruxes are. They have figured out some stuff already…” She broke off as a large group of people entered the room. Some of whom looked familiar to her, and some didn’t.

When everyone arrived Albus introduced her to everyone and everyone told them their names. There were: Alastor Moody, Poppy Pomfrey, Filius Flitwick, Pomona Sprout, Rolanda Hooch, Rubeus Hagrid, Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley, Andromeda Tonks, Ted Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Aberforth Dumbledore, Fleamont Potter, Euphemia Potter, Edgar Bones, Gideon Prewett, Fabian Prewett, Benjy Fenwick, Caradoc Dearborn, Elphias Doge, Arabella Figg, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones, Dorcas Meadowes, Emmeline Vance, Mundungus Fletcher, Sturgis Podmore and Augusta Longbottom.

“So, as you all know, Hermione is a Seer, and she came to me towards the end of the summer holidays informing me that she knew how to destroy Voldemort.” Most of them looked shocked. “It appears that Voldemort has created Horcruxes. These are objects, either living or inanimate, that holds a part of a persons’ soul, and therefore makes it hard for people to kill you because your soul is still attached to the earth. So, in order to kill him we need to destroy the Horcruxes, which will destroy the pieces of soul inside them, and then he can die.” Albus explained.

“What are these objects? Where are they? And how do we destroy them?” Aberforth asked.

“There are five of them. One is a diary that he had whilst at school, we believe it is in Malfoy Manor currently. Another is Hufflepuff’s cup, we believe this to be with the Lestrange’s or in the vault at Gringotts. Slytherin’s locket is another, but we don’t know where that is. We believe something of Ravenclaw’s is one as well, most probably the diadem, we don’t know where that is either. There is also his grandfathers’ ring, which is at the Gaunt home. To destroy a Horcrux you need to damage it beyond repair using something such as basilisk venom.”

“Where are we supposed to get basilisk venom?” Augusta chimed in.

“There’s a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets at the school. We will need to use the diary to get Him to open it and call the snake, then someone will have to kill it with the sword of Gryffindor, which means the sword will be impregnated with the venom and it takes in whatever makes it stronger, then we can destroy all the Horcruxes with the sword because it has basilisk venom in it. Or take a few of the fangs and that will work just as well. But other methods may work as well, such as Fiendfyre.” Hermione explained.

“How do you know that?” Moody questioned.

“I’m a seer.”

“Where are we supposed to find the ones we don’t know the position of? And how are we supposed to get into Malfoy Manor?” Filius asked.

“Actually, my friends had some ideas. Sirius said he can get us into Malfoy Manor. His cousin, Narcissa, is marrying Lucius Malfoy there during the summer holidays and because he is her cousin he has to attend, he also knows the layout and can help us get around. A few of us could get in using disillusionment charms or something and search the place whilst the ceremony and reception is happening. We should have a few hours. And my friend Remus suggested asking the Grey Lady where the diadem is, just in case she knows where it is and what may have happened to it. She is Rowena’s daughter after all, so she might know something.” Hermione suggested, she noticed that Andromeda looked slightly sad at the thought of her sister getting married and not being allowed to attend and Hermione smiled slightly at her.

“Those are some good ideas. But I’m sure the wards around the manor will catch us out with the disillusionment charms. Are there any other charms we can use?” Aberforth replied.

“We have until the summer to come up with a plan. Hermione, do you know the exact date of the wedding?” Albus asked her.

“No, I will have to ask Sirius and get back to you.”

“Okay. Filius, I would like you to speak to the Grey Lady, since she listens and talks to you far more than she does with any of us. Ask if she knows what happened to the diadem and where it is then report back to me.” Filius nodded in understanding. “I know where the Gaunt House is. Alastor, Kingsley, Fleamont and Aberforth, could you accompany me to the place to get the ring, I believe there will be protections and maybe even curses surrounding the house and the ring.” The four men nodded. “I will write to you with a time and date. Does anyone have any other ideas on how to get to the other Horcruxes?”

“If we try checking the Lestrange vault for the cup we could use Polyjuice potion to get in.” Ted suggested.

“The Lestrange vault would be deep below Gringotts, there would be maximum protection on it, including something that would pick up the use of Polyjuice potion.” Augusta remarked.

“The goblins trust you, Albus. And they hate Him, they want to bring Him down. Maybe, if you went to them and asked to go into the vault in search of a Horcrux that is keeping Him alive they might be able to help.” Euphemia said.

“I’ll ask a few of my most trusted goblins if they will help us. But if not then we’ll have to come up with another plan. Does anyone have anything else they would like to say?” Everyone shook their heads. “Okay, then I will end this meeting here. Keep doing what you’ve all been doing anyway. I will contact you all with the next meeting time and date soon. If you find anything come straight to me.”

Everyone nodded and they all, except Minerva, Albus and Hermione, stood and left the room, chatting about whatever came to mind.

When everyone had gone the two adults looked at their daughter with smiles on their faces, and she smiled at them, too.

“Dad, do you think you could get me a copy of the recipe for wolfsbane from Professor Slughorn?” Hermione asked.

“Why?”

“Uh, well, I figured that maybe I could study it, and some other plants and things to see if I can find a cure for lycanthropy. A proper cure, not just one that allows them to keep their minds. With the help of my friends of course.”

Her parents smiled brightly at her.

“I’m sure I can get you a copy. I’m also sure that if anyone can find a cure for lycanthropy it would be you. But, may I ask why you want to do this?”

“Well, Remus thinks he’s a monster. But he isn’t, and we all know he isn’t. He just doesn’t see it himself. And he thinks that no girl could ever love him because of what he is, and that he doesn’t deserve to be with anyone. He’s also scared that if he were to get with someone and they had a child that he would pass on the disease to them and he would hate himself more than he already does if that happens, I did tell him that it isn’t hereditary, and that the only way to pass it on is to bite someone whilst there is a full moon, but he’s so scared. I want life to be better for him. I want to help him. So, we’re going to try and find a cure. It might take a while, but if we do find one then he won’t have to suffer every month, and he can be happy, and feel better about himself. We could also cure other werewolves as well. Then Dolores Umbridge won’t put an anti-werewolf legislation in place that makes it hard for them to find and keep jobs.”

“Well, if you need help then you can come to us, but I’m sure you’ll do okay. You’re such a good girl, Hermione.” Minerva told her daughter with a bright smile on her face.

“Thank you. I am also making progress with Severus and Regulus, the boys have apologised to them both for what Peter did to them, and to Severus for bullying him. Sirius and Regulus also spent some time together, talking things through. So, hopefully, they won’t become Death Eaters and therefore ruin their lives. I am going to tell them the truth about me, I have already told Lily because she is involved as well, but I think them two need to hear the truth to make sure they don’t take the paths they did before, and because I figured that the more help we had, the better. I also need their help with the cure. They’re both pretty good at potions. James and Lily are getting closer as well, when I told Lily the truth about me, and about Harry, James had to comfort her and ever since they have been getting closer. I think they might start dating sooner than they did in my previous timeline. She’s also already protective of Harry, even though he isn’t close to being conceived or born yet. James is getting quite protective as well.”

“Hermione, we have told you that you can tell whoever you want, so long as they promise not to tell anyone else, and you have to trust them. But it is good that you have made some progress with all of them. However, your mother and I have something we need to tell you.”

Hermione looked intrigued.

“We thought about what you said the other day, and you were right. So… we decided to try for a baby, and I won’t be going on any missions for the Order at all, unless I need to that is.” Minerva said, smiling.

“Really?” Hermione asked. Minerva and Albus nodded, smiling as Hermione’s smile grew. “Thank you!” Hermione exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around them, they wrapped their around her, too. “I promise that I will help out whenever you need me to, and I’ll be the best big sister in the world, and I will try and save you…”

“Hermione, everything will be okay. And I’m sure you will be the best big sister in the world, but I’m not pregnant yet, so you will have to wait.” Minerva laughed.

“Though, you will have to tell us about those charms and things you researched when Minerva does get pregnant.”

“I will.”

…

When she arrived in the common room Sirius ran over to her and hugged her happily, she hugged him back. She noticed that it was only the Marauders and Lily in the room, everyone else was probably in bed considering it was rather late.

“James and Lily are together!” Sirius exclaimed. Hermione pulled back, shocked.

“What? Really?” She beamed and James and Lily, who were sitting next to each other, holding hands. The couple nodded and Hermione ran over to them, embracing them both as they hugged her back. “Congratulations!” She said as she let go of them. “When? How?”

“Well, when Lily got back to the common room I asked if she wanted to go to the next Hogsmeade trip with me and she said yes before kissing me. I kissed back, of course. So, now we’re together.” James explained with a goofy smile on his face.

“Now all that’s left for you two to do is get married and have little baby Harry.” Sirius joked.

“Sirius, you do realise we’re only fifteen, right? I don’t think we’re going to get married and have a baby just yet.” Lily responded, smiling.

They laughed and joked for a few more hours before going to their separate rooms to sleep.


	8. Room of Requirement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders and gang start meeting in the Room of Requirement where Hermione tells Severus and Regulus of her past, and they discuss what happened at the Order meeting so that they could help the Order find and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes.

It was half ten in the morning of the next day and Hermione was leading Lily, James, Sirius and Remus to the Room of Requirement for their meeting with Severus and Regulus, if they turned up anyway.

“Are you sure that you can trust them enough to tell them the truth?” Sirius asked her as he walked next to her.

“Yes. We need all the help we can get and they are clever. Also, it will help us all to become friends, and that is what I need to happen, otherwise everything I have worked for so far will be ruined. Or a lot of it. They need to know in order to protect themselves.”

“Are you going to tell them about their futures, and our futures?”

“Yes. It is all connected, somehow, and you all need to know everything that I know in order to help me, and help yourselves.”

They reached the tapestry and everyone waited whilst Hermione paced three times in front of it, thinking about a room in which they can have a meeting, and that has books that might help as well. When the door appeared, they entered and found a large room with bookshelves filled with books in each wall. There was a large fireplace in the middle of the right hand wall, with a fire in it. There were burgundy sofas surrounding it. In the centre of the room was a relatively large, mahogany round table with seven mahogany, and burgundy leather cushioned chairs. They all sat down, Hermione I between James and Sirius, with Lily on James’ other side and Remus on Sirius’ other side.

“Sirius, did you pick up the mandrake leaves?” Hermione asked the boy to her right.

“Yes. Have you and Lily still got yours in your mouths?”

“Yes.” The girls replied at the same time.

Hermione thought it would be a good idea for all of them to be Animagi, that way they have ways of getting away and hiding themselves if need be. Though, James would be a bit difficult to hide, and Remus can’t be an Animagus, they will work on that together. They have decided to take James’ invisibility cloak with them wherever they go, just in case.

At eleven they heard the door start to reform and soon it opened to reveal a nervous looking Severus and Regulus who entered, shutting the door behind them. The door disappeared as they walked to the two empty seats. Severus sat beside Lily and Regulus sat between Severus and Remus.

“So, there are some things I need to tell you both, things that you may not like, but I am here to change it. You see, I’m not really a seer. The reason I know things about the future, and how to destroy Voldemort, is because I am from the future. I was born on the nineteenth of September nineteen seventy-nine and I had just finished my fourth year of Hogwarts when I was asked to come back to this year by Dumbledore, well, future Dumbledore. I was a Muggle born so I wouldn’t have been related to anyone in this time, though, because I came back I won’t be born anyway and my parents will live different lives than what they did with me. I either knew or know of you all in the future. And I am here to save you all from your fates. Severus, you were my potions teacher here. But at some point, during your schooling here, you became a Death Eater, it was after this year though because you and Lily broke off your friendship when you called her a Mudblood after she saved you from one of the Marauders’ pranks. The reason I want you all to be friends is because I don’t want you to become a Death Eater, I wanted to save you from that. However, after Voldemort started going after Lily and James, which I will explain later, you did stop believing in what the Death Eaters believed in, and you became a spy for Dumbledore and his secret organisation, telling them what Voldemort was doing and when. The reason you became potions professor was to save you from going to Azkaban when the war ended after Lily and James died, Dumbledore told everyone you were spying for him and that you weren’t a true Death Eater, so they allowed you to be innocent as long as you were in Dumbledore’s protection, here at the school.” Severus looked shocked, and scared at the thought of Lily dying. Hermione smiled slightly at him.

“Regulus, I didn’t know you in person, but I knew of you. You also became a Death Eater, I’m not sure when, but as I said, I am here to save you and as long as you are all friends I doubt you will become one. I didn’t know you in person because you died, again, I don’t know when, but I know that you started disbelieving in the Death Eaters as well, I’m guessing that had something to do with your death. But I’m here to save you so I’m not going to let you, or any of you die. Voldemort started going after Lily and James in nineteen seventy-nine after a prophecy was spoken about a boy born at the end of July, to parents who had thrice defied him, who would have the power to destroy him. There were two possibilities of who this boy could be, Harry, the son of James and Lily, or Neville, the son of Alice and Frank. But one of his Death Eaters, I don’t know who, told him of the prophecy, though not the whole thing because they were kicked out of the pub it was being said in before they could hear all of it. Voldemort thought it meant James and Lily’s child and so went after them. They went into hiding under the Fidelius charm, Peter was the Secret Keeper, and on Halloween night, a year and three months after Harry was born, he told Voldemort the location of the home. Voldemort killed James first, then Lily who shielded Harry from him. But, when he went to kill Harry, because of Lily’s sacrifice, the curse rebounded and hit him instead, leaving Voldemort as nothing but a shadow of himself. Harry survived, with only a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt on his forehead, and was left to live with Lily’s sister and her husband and son, they treated him horribly.” She continued on, about how Sirius confronted Peter and was sent to Azkaban for killing twelve muggles and Peter who escaped in rat form and really killed the muggles, about the events of her first four years at Hogwarts. Everything. She told them everything. Even about the Horcruxes.

By the end of it both Severus and Regulus were shocked, Lily was crying again, James was comforting her with tears in his eyes, and Sirius and Remus looked to be in near tears as well.

“So, you want us to help you figure out where the Horcruxes are and how to destroy them?” Severus asked.

“Yes, but I also want us all to be friends, and to help each other. That way I know I can save you. Sirius said he will help some of us Order members get into Malfoy Manor, which reminds me, Sirius, when is Narcissa’s and Lucius’ wedding? The Order needs to know so we can formulate a plan.”

“The first of August.” Sirius answered.

“Thank you. Do you know all of the wards that are on the property? We need to know so that we can figure out a way of getting in without getting caught by the wards.”

“Yes, they are the same wards currently on my house. I can make a list for you if you would like.” Sirius responded.

“That would be great, thank you. Flitwick is talking to the Grey Lady about the diadem. My father and some others are going to get the ring at some point. We figured we would try the Lestrange vault at Gringott’s before trying to get into their Manor. But we need a plan that will get us in safely. My father is talking to some goblins to see if they could help us, but if they can’t then we will need a plan. You guys can help me with coming up with something. We also need to figure out where the locket is and how to get it. And we need a way of destroying them.”

“To destroy them we need to destroy it beyond repair, right? You suggested basilisk venom, but do we really want to risk going into the Chamber of Secrets? Surely there are other ways of destroying them.” Regulus said.

“Yes. Fiendfyre might work, but we need to research it. The killing curse should work on a human or animal, but I don’t know if it would work on inanimate objects. But then we would be using an Unforgivable, which is against the law, even if it’s not on a person. Basically, we need to do a lot of research and we don’t have a lot of time to do it in, well, we have a couple of years, but we need this over with soon. That way we can all live our lives and be happy without Him and his Death Eaters looming over us all the time. And Harry, and Neville, and every other child that will be born in the next few years, and beyond, can be safe and happy.”

“Though, if we don’t go in the Chamber, and kill the basilisk, won’t it attack at some point?” Lily asked.

“It will only do so if the heir of Slytherin comes and makes it, for the heir of Slytherin is the only person it will answer to. And the only heir of Slytherin that is known is Voldemort, unless He has a child that no one knows about, and said child knows how to open the Chamber, once He is dead there is an incredibly small chance that the Chamber will be opened. But, even then, the basilisk only answers the call of the heir of Slytherin, so, even if the Chamber is opened, the basilisk is unlikely to attack.” Hermione replied. “I would like us to meet here every Saturday and Sunday until we have figured out how to destroy Horcruxes and where they may be, as well as how to get into the places we need to get into. But you can come here at any other time as well, just think of this room whilst pacing three times outside the tapestry and it will appear. Sirius, could you write down the list of the wards so I can take it to my father, please?”

Sirius nodded and took some parchment and a quill, with a bottle of ink, out of his bag, writing down all of the wards on the Malfoy’s home.

“Also, Severus and Regulus, we would like you to become Animagi, but not to register yourselves. We have the mandrake leaves here, use the sticking charm to stick one on the roof of your mouth and you have to keep it in for thirty days. This is so that you can get out of danger easily if you should be in danger. James and Sirius are already Animagi. Remus can’t become one. Lily and I are in the first stage of becoming one right now. But you can’t tell anyone what you are doing, or about anything I have told you in this room, okay?” Severus and Regulus nodded, accepting the leaves from Sirius and helping each other stick the leaves to the rooves of their mouths. “Does anyone have any ideas currently? Or questions?” Hermione asked.

Everyone shook their head in response.

“Okay, let’s do some research.”

They spent some hours researching Horcruxes and how to destroy them, as well as ways of getting past wards and into the lower levels of Gringotts unnoticed. Then they went their separate ways, Severus and Regulus go back to the Slytherin Common Room, the three original Marauders and Lily back to the Gryffindor Common Room, and Hermione goes to her new fathers’ office.

When she entered after hearing the soft ‘come in’ she found her father hunched over his desk doing paperwork, but when the door closed behind her he looked up and smiled brightly at her.

“Hermione, how are you?” He asked, putting his quill in his pot of ink and relaxing in the chair.

“I’m fine. I found out the date of the wedding and Sirius wrote a list of the wards surrounding the property as well, to help us figure out how to get in without being noticed.” She said, giving her father the list of wards which also had the wedding date and time on it.

“Thank you. Have you told Severus and Regulus, yet?”

“Yes. Then myself, Severus, Regulus, Sirius, Remus, James and Lily did some research on Horcruxes, and wards. We were in the Room of Requirement.”

“Ah, did you find anything useful?”

“Well, nothing we already knew about the Horcruxes. But we did find that wards only pick up when someone enters through them, they don’t pick up how many people enter through them. So, if you time it correctly, and if you enter at the same time as someone visible you should be able to get in unnoticed. But that does mean that only a few of us should go or we would risk not doing it correctly and blowing our cover. We can’t however use charms, or potions, because there are wards on the property that make all charms and potions reverse their effects on the property, so if we turned ourselves invisible using a charm it would disappear and they would know we are there. However, James has said we can borrow his invisibility cloak, we can expand it so that multiple people can fit under it and so long as we enter at the same time as Sirius does, we should be fine. They don’t pick up on anyone leaving the wards, so we can leave before Sirius if need be, but we can’t apparate in or out.”

“Great, we should be able to work out a plan then.”

“Has Filius talked to the Grey Lady yet?”

“Not yet, he has plans to this evening as she is out more often in the evening. I heard that Lily and James are finally together.”

“Oh, yes. Thank Merlin. I feel like I can actually save them and Harry now.”

“I also heard that you and Sirius are together. Is that true?”

Hermione blushed as she shook her head. “No, it’s not true.”

“But you wish it was true?” He said, his eyes twinkling, causing Hermione to blush even more.

“Maybe.” She replied, looking down at her lap.

“Hey, I don’t mind. Sirius is a good boy. But, if he ever breaks your heart then I will not hesitate to throw some hexes at him. Hermione, you deserve to be happy, too, and so does Sirius. You don’t just have to think about everyone else, you are here to stay, so you need to find some happiness for you as well.”

“I know.”

“Good. Please, allow yourself to be happy, Hermione.”

“I am happy, but I will.”

“Okay. Oh, here is a copy of the wolfsbane potion recipe. Professor Slughorn is hard at work getting the ingredients together so he can make it in time for the next full moon.”

“Thank you.” She replied as she took the parchment out of his outstretched hand.

They talked for a while, about random things, including school and friends. Twenty minutes before dinner Minerva joined them and they walked to the Great Hall together, talking about whatever came to mind.

And Hermione knew that she had the right to be happy as well.


	9. A Friendship Turned Into More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prank is pulled and a friendship turns into more.

It was Halloween day of nineteen seventy-five and the five friends (James, Remus, Sirius, Hermione and Lily) were sitting in the boys’ dormitory, planning their prank for the feast. There weren’t any classes, despite it being a Thursday.

Hermione’s birthday had been amazing. Minerva and Albus had brought her a number of books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as some new clothes and a beautiful snowy owl which she named Hedwig. She was allowed the owl as well as Crookshanks because she agreed to allow Albus and Minerva to use her occasionally, which meant that although the owl was hers, she would be sharing it for school reasons. Sirius had brought her some sweets from Honeydukes and a quill and ink set that had ink of different colours in it. Remus had brought her some muggle novels to read. James had brought her, and everyone else in the group of seven, he gave Severus and Regulus one as well, a two-way mirror which allowed them to speak to any of the others at any time given that they said the persons’ name. He also brought her a book on pranks that she didn’t already have. Lily had brought her some more make-up as she was steadily getting through it, and some wizarding novels that were very different to the muggle ones, mainly because they weren’t completely fictional as they were about witches and wizards, and included the same spells and potions, etcetera, used by them. Severus and Regulus also brought her some Honeydukes chocolates and sweets.

The day after her birthday Minerva and Albus invited the seven friends, who were all becoming extremely close, over to their quarters for the day, as it was Saturday. Severus and Regulus were shocked that the two professors were married and had adopted Hermione. They had a lovely lunch and dinner together, had cake, and spent the day playing games, talking and laughing as they all got to know each other better. Hermione thought that it was one of her favourite birthdays ever.

Hermione and Lily had successfully become Animagi, they boys were annoyed that they were able to achieve the Animagus transformation in under a month, but they did. Lily was a beautiful doe to go with James’ stag. Hermione was a beautiful grey wolf. They had both been honoured with Marauder nicknames as well. Hermione’s was Akela, after the wolf in The Jungle Book who raised Mowgli, they thought it was rather fitting as she is helping them, saving them, and hopefully helping them raise Harry. Lily’s nickname was Flower, this was due to both her name and the markings of her Animagus form, she had a lily shaped tattoo like thing above her right eye when in her doe form. She also had auburn hair in doe form. So, all together they were Messrs Moony, Akela, Padfoot, Prongs and Flower.

They had managed to sneak out together during the last full moon, which had been the week before Halloween and Remus was feeling much better since he had been able to take his wolfsbane potion. They had fun, running through the forest together and wandering about. Hermione remembered the map and had decided to bring it up the day after, when they were visiting Remus in the hospital wing. They had agreed to make it, thinking it would be fun to explore all of Hogwarts together, at night, when no one was around. Hermione was excited to figure out how the Marauders’ Map was made. She had always wondered.

Severus and Regulus were making good progress on their transformations as well, though they hadn’t completed it yet. They were all still friends, and they met up in the Room of Requirement whenever they could to research or talk about random things, also to help each other with homework.

Peter had been sent to Azkaban about a week after he had poisoned Hermione. Slughorn had warded his home so he couldn’t get out and no one except Aurors or Dumbledore could get in. He was arrested and trialled privately before being put into an Animagi proof cell which prevented him from being able to escape. The others that he had claimed to be Death Eaters within the school had also been arrested, so were the ones who they claimed to be Death Eaters, and so on, so Slytherin was missing a fair number of students as well, though there was one Ravenclaw pureblood that had been arrested as well. Filius was definitely not happy when he found out that one of his Eagles worked for Voldemort.  

Filius had spoken to the Grey Lady and had found out that the diadem was in the Room of Requirement, in the room where everyone hid the things they no longer wanted. She also revealed that it was, indeed, a Horcrux. Filius, Hermione, Dumbledore, Sprout, Moody, Shacklebolt, Fleamont Potter, Arthur Weasley, Doge, Diddle and McGonagall went in to find it, knowing it would probably take a while. And it took them a few hours of looking at and inside everything in the room before they found it. They managed to use Fiendfyre to destroy it and it no longer exists.

They decided to wait a while before searching for another one as they didn’t want Voldemort to get suspicious.

Albus and Minerva were still trying for a baby, though Minerva wasn’t pregnant yet. They were okay with that though as they knew that it hadn’t been long since they had started trying. Minerva’s birthday was fun also. Hermione went to her new parents’ quarters early in the morning, before they were awake, and made a lovely cooked breakfast for the three of them in the kitchen. When Albus and Minerva entered the room they were shocked to find Hermione in there cooking pancakes and an assortment of other food for them.

After breakfast, which was delicious and Hermione received a lot of praise for her efforts, they went to the living room and Minerva opened her presents. Albus had gotten her a beautiful silver brooch in the shape of a tabby cat that had emeralds as eyes. He also got her some ginger newts, as well as some other sweets she enjoyed, and a new deep green robe. Hermione made her a tartan scarf for the winter, and brought her a simple silver photo frame that held a moving photograph of the three of them, smiling and holding each other as they faced the camera. The photo frame was charmed, by Hermione herself, to read ‘I love you, mum’ on the top of it. Tears filled Minerva’s eyes as she looked at it, and she held Hermione in her arms for a while before letting go and opening her other presents.

The other Marauders, as well as Severus and Regulus, chipped in to buy her some books on Transfiguration that Hermione told them she didn’t have, as well as some more ginger newts. Filius brought her some different coloured ink. Poppy, her best friend, brought her some new robes, and her favourite chocolate. Rolanda, who is also a close friend, brought her some Quidditch gear, which Hermione was shocked at but Minerva told her that she still played occasionally and needed some more. Pomona, another close friend, brought her some herbs which you add to hot water to help with morning sickness, for when she gets pregnant, and some herbs which you add to cold water to help boost fertility (they help you to get pregnant). She also got her some more of her favourite chocolate. She got some other bits and pieces as well. The three of them spent the whole day together, in the private quarters, playing games and talking and laughing. It was another great day.

The first Hogsmeade weekend was fun. James and Lily went around together in the morning whilst Hermione went around with Sirius and Remus, and they all met up for lunch in the Three Broomsticks and spent the afternoon together.

Sirius and Hermione spent more time together, and both of them were falling more and more for the other, although they both haven’t told the other of their feelings. The other members of the group were wondering when one of them would tell the other, or ask the other out. They even had a bet in place on when they would start dating. Remus thought they would get together on Halloween night, James thought it would be on Christmas day, and Lily thought it would be New Year’s Day.

It was three hours before the feast when they had finished planning the prank. At lunch, they had gone down to the kitchen to supply the elves with the appropriate potions and told them who each one was for. They had also supplied the elves with the sweets they had brought from the second Hogsmeade visit which went a lot like the first one. They had also had lunch in the kitchen and had discussed the prank and other things with the elves. But now they were leaving the kitchen, satisfied that everything was ready. They knew the spells they had to do, they had everything ready.

They decided to spend some time in the Room of Requirement before the feast. They sat together at the mahogany round table, Hermione sat between Sirius and Remus, James sat between Sirius and Lily.

“I can’t believe you are now pranking with us, Flower!” Sirius exclaimed.

“Yes, well, I have to say, I did think some of your pranks were rather genius, I just didn’t like it when you picked on Severus. But now that we’re all friends, I am okay with it. Also, we need to have some fun before the war progresses even more than it already has.” Lily explained.

“So, Hermione, what did this Marauders’ Map look like?” Remus questioned.

Hermione explained to them what it looked like and how it worked, including what to say to it depending on what you want it to do, so that they could think of ways of making it work. She told them how it showed where everyone within the castle and Hogsmeade was and what they were doing. She told them how it wasn’t fooled by Animagi and Polyjuice potion, and how it was the map that told them that Peter was still alive. She told them how the only thing it didn’t show was the Room of Requirement because it was unplottable. She told them that it showed all of the secret passageways in and out of the school, including the one to the Shrieking Shack. She told them everything.

They all looked fascinated at the idea of such a wonderful map. They looked impressed that it had been them to create it.

“How do you know of this map?” James asked, fascinated.

“Well, the school pranksters in my time, Fred and George Weasley, found it in Filch’s office when they were in their first year. I assume you got it confiscated at some point. And in our third year they gave it to Harry, that way he could sneak into Hogsmeade using the invisibility cloak because he couldn’t go as his aunt and uncle didn’t sign the form for him. They were two years older than us so they had had it for five years and knew it all by heart. They loved you all, you were their idols. I don’t think they ever found out who you really were, though. Harry, Ron and I found out but we didn’t tell them.”

“So, they were born in nineteen seventy-eight? You know the Weasley’s, don’t you?” Sirius pondered with a smirk on his face.

“Yes, they’re part of the Order.” Hermione agreed, looking confused.

“Right, well, become friends with them, and then we can teach Fred and George some tricks as they grow up so they will be even better than us, but obviously not as good as our own children because we will obviously teach them a lot more than we will teach the twins. But Hogwarts needs some pranksters, and we need to help them.”

“I’m sure Molly and Arthur would really appreciate you teaching their children to prank.” Hermione replied, rolling her eyes.

“If they’re destined to be pranksters anyway, why shouldn’t we teach them what we know?” Sirius argued.

Hermione just shrugged, smirking at her friend before turning to face the others and joining their discussion on muggle music.

…

The prank was spectacular. Everyone in Slytherin became green with silver polka dots. Everyone from Hufflepuff became yellow with black stripes, looking an awful lot like bees. Everyone from Gryffindor, including the five friends, became red with gold zigzags. And everyone from Ravenclaw became blue with bronze stars. It was only the skin colour that changed. The teachers didn’t change appearance though, they just watched on in anticipation. Waiting for the Marauders to do something more spectacular.

And it happened.

With an unnoticeable flick of Sirius’ wand some of the Hufflepuff’s started playing instruments that were conjured out of thin air and an unsuspecting Slytherin boy started singing the lyrics to the Time Warp song from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, followed by an unsuspecting Slytherin girl. And soon every student in the hall was singing and dancing to the songs as the benches temporarily banished.

The teachers watched on in amusement.

When the song ended, the benches reappeared, the instruments disappeared, and the students sat back down as if nothing happened, whilst still coloured in their house colours. James held his wand up in the air and shot fireworks out of it. The fireworks were also coloured in the house colours and they wrote ‘HAPPY HALLOWEEN BY THE MARAUDERS’ in mid-air for about a minute before banging and showering the students and teachers with multitudes of small Honeydukes sweets.

Albus was showered in a large number of sherbet lemons, making him smile brightly with joy. All the students cheered as they attempted to pick out the most sweets. The five friends were grinning at the success of their plan.

“I think this was the best Halloween ever.” Sirius had claimed whilst everyone was busy fighting kindly over the sweets that now littered the tables and floor, the other four nodded in agreement. “Lily Flower, welcome to the Marauders.”

They all toasted to that.

But now it was late into the evening, everyone was asleep, except Hermione. She was sitting on the sofa in front of the fire in the common room, in her baggy grey pyjama t-shirt and her red shorts, thinking about what would have happened in five years from that night had she not succeeded in getting Peter away from the group.

She jumped slightly as someone sat next to her on the sofa. It was Sirius, and he looked slightly disturbed.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He asked her.

“No. Are you okay? You look disturbed about something.” She wondered.

“Yes, I just had a nightmare.”

“Do you often have nightmares?” She questioned, worried.

“Occasionally.”

“What are they about? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Sirius smiled gently at her.

“My family mostly. They don’t like me because I don’t believe in their views on pureblood supremacy, and because I’m friends with so called blood traitors, and half-bloods, and muggleborns. Also, because I am friends with a werewolf. And because I’m in Gryffindor. My parents are particularly harsh about it. When they found out I was put into Gryffindor they wrote to Dumbledore and asked for me to be moved to Slytherin. But I refused, and Dumbledore wrote back saying that wasn’t how the sorting worked and that it couldn’t be changed. They want me to join Voldemort, you know? In fact, they even made me meet Him once, it was the most horrible moment of my life. My father and Voldemort himself used the cruciatus curse on me because I refused to join. And my father beats me occasionally. My mother just watches him, calls me names, doesn’t look after me when I’m ill. She’s stopped buying me things, and has told our house elf not to make me any food, so I make my own food. But I have taken to spending a lot of time at James’ home and they don’t like it. They haven’t hurt Regulus yet because they want to take their anger out on me. And he pretends to have the same beliefs as them, but I know he doesn’t believe in them either. So, it’s only a matter of time before they start hurting him too. I dream of what they do to me, of what they might do to Regulus, of what they could do to my friends, of what Voldemort could do to my friends.”

Hermione felt her heart sadden at the thought of Sirius being hurt by his family. And by Voldemort.

“Did… Did the Dursley’s ever hurt Harry physically?” Sirius asked.

“I don’t know. He never mentioned anything, except that his cousins’ favourite game was ‘Harry hunting’. His cousin and his friends hurt him occasionally, but I don’t know about his uncle or aunt. He was a very private person, he didn’t like talking about his family so it is a possibility. Though, whenever he was at Ron’s home Molly always looked after him the way a mother would have, always tried to fatten him up because of how skinny he was. He was happy there. And he was happy here. But, with everything I have, somehow, managed to change I am sure he won’t have to grow up with them. He will have a happy childhood, in which he is loved and nurtured the way he should have been. Peter’s not here anymore, he can’t cause any damage, and we know about the Horcruxes, and we can destroy them, then kill Voldemort. In fact, we have already destroyed one of them. I am sure everything will be fine.”

“Do you know if I ever got away from my family? In your timeline, did I ever escape them?”

“Yes. You ran away from home the summer after this school year and went to live with James and his family. I don’t know what happened to cause you to leave, though.”

Sirius just nodded, staring at the fire.

“Have you ever thought about the future? Have you ever thought about what you want to do? Who you want to be with? Whether you want to have a family?” Sirius pondered.

“I did, when I was in the future. I wanted to work for creature rights, such as house elves, werewolves, and other creatures. I wanted to make things better for them all. And I wanted to be with Ron, even though we were so different in character, I felt like I loved him and wanted to be with him. I wanted to have a family with him. But now, since coming here, everything has changed. I don’t know what career I want. I am too busy focussing on saving people, and on killing Voldemort, that I don’t have time to think of much else. But I do know, for sure now, who I want to be with, who I want to have a family with. I know now that what I felt for Ron wasn’t love because it can’t have been if I feel so much more for the person I want that family with…”

She was cut off by his lips on hers and his hands on her cheeks with his fingers tangled in her straight hair. She was momentarily shocked but soon she melted into it, wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer to her and she deepened the kiss, loving the feel of his lips on hers as it sent electricity bursting through her.

Eventually they pulled back for air but their foreheads touched as they took deep breaths.

“Am I that person you want that family with?” He spoke in a deep, husky voice that made her insides flutter like butterflies.

“Yes.” She whispered.

“Good, because you’re the person that I want a family with.” He whispered in return, smiling at her, she smiled back. “You are so beautiful.” He said before kissing her again, and she didn’t hesitate to kiss back.

When they pulled back Sirius looked at the clock on the table by the window and sighed.

“We should probably get some sleep. Do you… Do you want to come up to the dorm with me? Lily is sleeping there, James couldn’t take her to the girls’ dorm and he didn’t want to wake her up. It’s obvious something was troubling you and making you struggle to sleep, it might help, to have someone there to comfort you. I don’t mind if you don’t want to, I completely understand actually, but…”

“I will come up to the dorm with you.” She cut him off as she stood and held out her hand for him to take. And he did, she pulled him up and led him up to his dorm.

They climbed into his small bed, on their sides so that they were facing each other, and they snuggled together, breathing in each other’s’ scents.

“Goodnight, Hermione.”

“Goodnight, Sirius.”

He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead as she let the tiredness consume her and she fell into a peaceful sleep.


	10. A Bet Won and a Suprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus wins a bet. Minerva and Albus have a surprise for Hermione.

The next morning, the occupants of the Gryffindor boys’ fifth year dormitory were woken by the uncharacteristic almost squeal of delight of Remus John Lupin as he peered at Sirius’ bed, from his spot on his own bed, and saw Sirius lying in the bed with Hermione, both peacefully asleep until the squeal left his happy mouth.

“What is Remus squealing about?” James groaned tiredly as him and Lily sat up in his bed and saw exactly what their friend was excited about. Sirius and Hermione just smiled at each other before sitting up themselves.

“I WON THE BET! WAIT, WHEN DID YOU GET TOGETHER?” Remus exclaimed excitedly.

“Last night.” Sirius replied with a happy grin that lit up his face.

“Why are you shouting, Rem? I have never seen you so excited over anything. I have definitely never seen you squeal like a girl. And, what’s this about a bet?” Hermione questioned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the back of her hands.

“I am shouting because I am happy for my friends. Also, around the time of the full moon my hormones go crazy and my mood changes constantly…”

He was cut off by James saying, “Like when someone is pregnant and they go all crazy because their baby hormones are all over the place.”

Remus glared at his friend who just smiled cheekily back at him, at least, before Lily smacked him upside the head.

“Anyway, I’m happy for you. And the bet is the one that myself, James, Lily, Severus and Regulus made in which we bet on when we thought you two would get together. I said Halloween, therefore, I won and I expect five galleons from each of our friends as soon as possible.” Remus explained, smiling again.

Hermione just smiled as she watched Lily and James find the galleons and give them to Remus, resting against Sirius. She was happy that her friends were happy. She was happy herself. She just hoped that she could help win this war soon so that everyone could be happier.

…

Time flew by as the friends focussed on their studies, among other things. Sirius and Hermione were together and happy, so were James and Lily. Albus even took it upon himself to give Sirius the ‘if you hurt my daughter I will give you a very painful death’ talk.

Severus and Regulus had completed their Animagus training and had join them on the subsequent full moon. Severus was a black panther and Regulus was a long snake that looked rather like how Harry had described Nagini. It took some time to come up with Marauder names for them, but the group soon named them Pan and Python respectively.

All of them were becoming closer, although they all noticed that Severus and Remus were getting closer and closer each day, and they all thought that soon they would be dating, if they would just gather the courage to tell the other their feelings.

They all used the Room of Requirement still to study, research, plan and train (they had started training in the art of duelling together so they would be prepared for the inevitable battle). It was also the place where they would all go just to be together, to talk and laugh about life and anything else. It was also where they had started creating the Marauders’ Map, after Severus and Regulus had become fully fledged Marauders with their Animagi forms.

Although Hermione missed her old life still, she loved it here. She knew that this is where she belonged, with these people, in this time. She would see her old friends again, she would just have a different role in their lives, and they would grow up happy and loved by herself and everyone else. She knew she would be happy too.

On the Saturday of the 6th of December Hermione was called to her new parents’ quarters after dinner. She wondered why, but she was happy to get to spend some more time with them anyway. She had been busy studying for end of term tests recently and hadn’t had much time to spend with them.

She gave the portrait the password and was allowed entry, she saw her new mother on the sofa, waiting anxiously for her. Minerva smiled, stood, and hugged her adoptive daughter as Albus walked in with a tray filled with mugs of tea, made to their liking, and a plate of biscuits. Albus hugged her also, after placing the tray on the coffee table, before they all sat, Albus and Minerva on the sofa and Hermione in an armchair.

“Sorry I haven’t been able to see you much recently, I’ve been studying.” Hermione apologised.

“It’s fine, we understand. How are you and your friends? Did you have fun in Hogsmeade?” Minerva asked, smiling as she took a sip of her warm tea.

“We’re fine, thank you. Hogsmeade was amazing. I spent the morning with Sirius, we had a small picnic in the forest by the Shrieking Shack and just enjoyed the time away from everything else. Then we met up with everyone at The Three Broomsticks for lunch and spent the afternoon shopping before coming back. I managed to grab some Christmas presents as well, I will owl order the rest soon. Did you two have a good day?”

Her new parents smiled at each other before smiling at her.

“We had a wonderful day. This morning Poppy told us that we are to be expecting your baby brother around the first of August.” Minerva announced with a beaming smile on her face and a hand resting on her still flat belly.

“Really?” Hermione asked, an excited grin on her face.

“Yes.” Albus replied, smiling with his mouth and his twinkling eyes.

Hermione left her seat and walked over to them, still smiling, she sat in between them and they all embraced each other, happy that their new family would be extended once more.


	11. Christmas Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas.

Hermione woke on Christmas morning in the warm arms of her boyfriend and with a bright smile on her face. She turned around to face a still sleeping Sirius and kissed him gently, causing him to wake up and start kissing her in return.

“Merry Christmas beautiful.” Sirius whispered as he pulled away from the kiss.

“Merry Christmas.” She replied.

They had all stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays, wanting to spend their first Christmas together in the same place. They were in the boys’ dormitory, Lily sleeping in James’ bed, Hermione in Sirius’, and Remus in his. Once they had all woken up there were going to meet Severus and Regulus in the Great Hall for breakfast before going up to Albus’ and Minerva’s quarters to spend the day together. Or most of the day, they had to spend lunch in the Great Hall with all of the other students and staff that stayed over the holidays.

Sirius got out of bed and headed towards the en-suite bathroom, “Guys, wake up, we have to meet Pan and Python for breakfast in an hour and we all know how long Prongs takes to get ready!” He shouts on the way, shutting the bathroom door behind him just as James threw a pillow at him, which hit the closed door and rebounded onto the floor.

They could hear Sirius laughing on the other side of the closed door.

“Why does he have to be so annoying?” Lily groaned as she hid her face in the one remaining pillow on James’ bed.

“I heard you Flower, and I am hurt that you think I am annoying. Don’t you want Harry to have the best Dogfather ever?” Sirius cried from the other side of the door.

“How do you put up with him, Hermione?” Lily moaned.

“I don’t have a clue.” Hermione joked causing Sirius to start wailing.

“Why? Why do people find me annoying? I’m not annoying! I’m Sirius!” Sirius wailed, and this time they all groaned, causing Sirius to laugh. “You love me really!”

“Just get ready or I will come in there and pummel you into the ground!” James said. “I’m serious.”

“No, I am.” Sirius retorted smartly, and they all groaned again, making Sirius laugh again.

“Just hurry up!” Lily snapped.

“Alright, no need to be snappy. I am getting ready. Relax guys, it’s Christmas!”

…

Hermione knocked on the door to her new parents’ quarters and about two seconds later it was opened by Minerva who smiled at all of them.

“There you all are. Merry Christmas. Come in, come in.” She moved out of the way and they all walked into the quarters which was decked out in Christmas decorations, a tree, lit up with magical fairy lights sitting in the corner of the room with piles of beautifully wrapped presents circling under it, wishing her a ‘Merry Christmas’ as they entered.

Minerva closed the door behind them and gestured for them all to sit, so they did. Albus entered the room, floating a tray with various mugs of hot chocolate on it in front of him.

“Merry Christmas, children. How are you all this morning?” Albus greeted as he served them all a mug of the warm drink and sat down next to Minerva on the small sofa. The large sofa was filled by James, Lily, Sirius and Hermione. Remus, Severus and Regulus were sitting on the floor between the sofas.

“We are fine, sir. Merry Christmas to you both, too.” Remus replied politely.

“That’s good. Now, should we all open our presents?”

Sirius nodded enthusiastically, so Albus flicked his wand and the various piles of presents floated into the air and glided over to them, a different pile landing in front of each of the room’s occupants.

“Who wants to go first?” Minerva asked kindly.

James decided to go first. He picked up a smaller present on top of the pile and Hermione noticed Remus and Sirius grinning just like she was, as James opened a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

“Ah, thank you Sirius, Hermione and Remus.” James said with a smile on his face as he opened the sweet box and pulled out a bean, popping it into his mouth and chewing it before pulling a disgusted face. “Ew, vomit.” James pulled out another sweet and tried it, it was earwax. He pulled out another, tripe. And another, vomit again.

Remus, Hermione and Sirius were snickering and that is when James noticed them doing so, he smelt the inside of the box and threw it down.

“What did you guys do?” James questioned, looking slightly angry.

“Oh, nothing, we just bought a lot of boxes of sweets and smelt out the worst ones using our heightened senses of smell and put them all in one packet for you, repackaged them with magic and wrapped it up.” Sirius said before bursting out laughing, causing everyone else to start laughing.

Once everyone had stopped laughing, James opened another present. He received a new cloak, a dark brown wand holster, a chocolate frog, some fizzing whizzbees, a new watch, and a dark blue hand-knitted blanket from his parents. He got a photo album, which looked suspiciously like the one Hagrid had given to Harry, from Lily, which had already been partially filled with photographs of them, she said that they would add to it as they got older. Sirius brought him a toy broomstick and a stuffed black dog, “For Harry, when he is with us in this wonderful world.”

“But, Padfoot, he hasn’t even been conceived yet.” James said, confused as to why Sirius would buy his son a toy broom when he wasn’t even in existence yet.

“Yes, but I was just trying to be a good Dogfather. It’s never too early to start preparing for a baby, Prongs.”

James just put the broom down, shaking his head, before he moved onto the next present, which was from Remus. Remus got him a stuffed wolf toy.

“Is this for Harry, too?” James questioned.

“Of course, as Padfoot said, it’s never too early to start preparing for a baby. At least you’re going to be ready for him when he comes, because between us we are going to be buying you a lot of stuff for him before he’s even conceived.” Remus replied, smiling cheekily.

“I’m sorry, as much as I like the wolf, and the broom, and the dog, you do realise we aren’t the only people here capable of having children. You aren’t preparing for all of the children that all of you can have, just for Harry.” James countered.

“Yes, but Harry is the only child we know for sure is going to be born, so, currently, he is the only child we can spoil. And as Remus said, at least this way you’re prepared.” Sirius argued.

“Fine. Whatever!” James grumbled before picking up another present and opening it to find a stuffed stag and a stuffed doe, as well as a stuffed female wolf. “Another present for Harry!”

“Guilty, but I didn’t really know what to get you and I know that Harry would have loved to have stuffed toys like these, so I went for it.” Hermione confessed with a cheeky smile on her face.

“Did you guys get Lily presents for Harry as well?” James asked.

“Of course, we did!” Sirius mocked sounding offended.

James just groaned and opened the rest of his presents; Severus got him a stuffed panther and Regulus got him a stuffed python. Albus and Minerva brought him an advanced Transfiguration book though, and some sweets from Honeydukes. “Thank you for all of the wonderful presents.” James said.

“You are very welcome, Prongs, we hope that Prongslet enjoys the things we got him as well.” Sirius replied, causing James to glare at him.

Lily opened her presents next. Her parents sent her some new clothes including an oversized, light blue denim jacket, some jumpsuits, and some dresses, some of her favourite sweets and chocolate, and some perfume she likes. James got her a beautiful silver necklace with a silver doe charm on it which was encrusted with small emeralds which matched her eyes. “Aw, James, it’s beautiful. Thank you.” Lily said with a small smile on her face.

“You’re welcome, beautiful.” James replied before kissing her gently.

Lily opened the rest of her presents; a hand-knitted, light blue baby jumper with a green ‘H’ on it made by Hermione and also charmed by her to make sure it grew with Harry, a baby photo album from Severus who knew how much photographs meant to her, a mobile for a crib with smaller stuffed animals on (a stag, doe, black dog, wolf, female wolf, panther and python) from Sirius, a set of baby-grows with all of their Animagus/werewolf forms on from Regulus, a series of children’s books from Remus, and Albus and Minerva brought her an advanced Charms book, an advanced Potions book, and some sweets from Honeydukes. James’ parents even sent her a beautiful emerald green ball gown which would adapt to fit her, at which point James asked her to accompany him to his family’s New Years’ Ball, Lily said she would go with him, and he extended the invitation to everyone in the room, they all agreed to attend. He would have invited her to the Christmas one but his parents knew how much he wanted to spend Christmas with his new friends, at Hogwarts so they said he didn’t have to attend this one time. “Thank you.” She said to everyone once she had finished with her pile.

Severus went next. He got an advanced Potions book and some Honeydukes sweets from Albus and Minerva, some rare potions ingredients from Hermione, the new book from a series he liked from Lily, the first edition copies of another book series he liked from Remus (which he thanked Remus for with a small blush lining his cheeks), a new gold cauldron which was a joint present from James and Sirius, and a subscription to a potions magazine from Regulus. James’ parents also sent him some chocolate and dark grey robes.

Regulus received some dark green Quidditch gloves made from dragon hide and some Honeydukes sweets from Albus and Minerva. Sirius got him some of his favourite chocolates, a poster of his favourite Quidditch team (Falmouth Falcons), and two tickets to one of their games. Severus got him a book on potions that he had wanted. Remus got him a book on Defence Against the Dark Arts, which he also wanted. James got him a practise snitch, “Because Gryffindor has to have some proper competition”. James’ parents, much to Regulus’ surprise sent him some chocolate and some dark green robes. Lily got him a book on Charms that he wanted. Hermione got him a sketchbook and some coloured inks, and pencils because he liked to draw. His parents sent him nothing because he recently wrote to them and told them he was on the light side of the war now, and was friends with Sirius’ friends. Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora sent him some money in a small, black leather pouch, as well as deep blue robes and some more of his favourite sweets. His uncle Alphard sent him some more money in a slightly larger, blue leather pouch, and a black wand holster. And he got a set of silver, snake cufflinks from a mystery person which made him smile brightly and blush, although he wouldn’t reveal who sent them to him.

Sirius also received nothing from his parents. His uncle Alphard sent him the same things he sent Regulus, except his wand holster was dark blue. Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora also sent him the same things they sent Regulus, but his robes were a deep green colour. Albus and Minerva gave him a book on advanced charms and transfigurations and some Honeydukes sweets. James’ parents sent him some money in another leather pouch, as well as a new set of dress robes in a light blue/silvery colour to go with his eyes. James gave him a cream coloured baby blanket with golden stars all over it, it was hand-knitted as well. “James, why did you get me a baby blanket?”

“Because I thought of all of the children you and Hermione are going to have one day and knew I had to buy something for them.” James said with a grin on his face.

“But you didn’t get anyone else baby things?”

“Yes, but I knew you were stupid enough to buy me a present which was meant for Harry and not myself, I didn’t think everyone else would. And Padfoot, it’s best to be prepared, you know.” James joked.

Sirius just put the blanket down and picked up the next present. From Lily, he received a set of children’s books different to the ones that Remus had given her for Harry, Lily grinned at him when he looked at her questioningly. He shook his head and went to the rest of his presents. Regulus got him some chocolate frogs, some Gryffindor posters, “To annoy our parents”, and a subscription to his favourite Quidditch magazine. Severus got him a subscription to a Defence Against the Dark Arts magazine which talks about Aurors as well as all of the new Defence spells, charms and potions being created, but also how you can use other spells, such as transfigurations, to create defences.

Remus got him a camera, “I know how much you like photography, and I thought you might like it to capture yours and Hermione’s life together. I have no doubt that you and Hermione will be together for the rest of your lives, we can all see how much you belong together, how much you love each other, even if you haven’t told each other that yet.” He explained.

“Thank you, Remus.” Sirius whispered in awe.

He then opened the last present, from Hermione. It was a deep red blanket, hand-knitted by Hermione herself, with their initials, a dog and a wolf above their initials, sewn into the corner of it in gold thread. There were also outlines of stars littering the blanket sewn in more gold thread. Sirius held the blanket to his chest as he leant over and kissed her gently on the lips. “Thank you.” He whispered when he pulled back.

“You’re welcome. I figured you could annoy your parents with it. I also thought it would be good for when we cuddled up together.” Sirius nodded in agreement.

Remus opened his presents next. Minerva and Albus got him some books he had wanted on Defence, Charms and Transfiguration, as well as a months’ supply of his favourite Honeydukes chocolate. James got him some more chocolate, and a new book series he wanted to read. James’ parents sent him a deep red leather pouch filled with money, and some robes in a dark green colour. Sirius got him some chocolate frogs, some new notebooks, a new quill set and some inks of different colours. Lily got him the first edition of one of his favourite books, as well as more chocolate, but Muggle chocolate instead of wizarding chocolate. Regulus got him a 20 galleon gift card to Honeydukes and a book on Defence. Hermione got him a book series she had told him about that he was interested in reading, and his favourite sweets, not chocolate. Severus got him a book full of ancient spells and potions that are mostly forgotten now, never used in society anymore (Remus also thanked him with a blush lining his cheeks).

Hermione went next. She had, perhaps, the largest pile of presents, which she was confused by, and obviously that confusion showed. “We thought you would be missing everyone you knew in the future, so we wanted to make this a Christmas to remember, you best Christmas yet.” Sirius said excitedly before kissing her cheek gently. She smiled and thanked them all before reaching for her first present.

She opened her first present. It was a book on Ancient Runes, but more advanced than what she was currently learning, from Albus and Minerva. They also got her some new clothes, both Muggle and wizarding, some Muggle fiction books that she had loved in the future but hadn’t had the chance to buy, some of her favourite chocolates and sweets, and some more make-up as she was getting fond of it and had nearly run out. James got her a set of baby-grows; one which was dark blue with golden stars on, another which was white with little green and red dragons on, another which was a light blue colour with the words ‘I love my mummy’ on it, written in red, and another which was a pale yellow colour and had the words ‘Daddy’s little pup’ written on it in red writing. He also got her some chocolate frogs. “Why did you get me baby stuff?”

“Because you are dating Sirius. And I just had to get them before they sold out, I knew Sirius would like them, especially the one that says, ‘Daddy’s little pup’, adorable.” James grinned.

Hermione shook her head, smiling as she put down her presents and opened the next one. James’ parents sent her some chocolates and a new, pale blue ball gown. Lily got her some children’s storybooks that weren’t part of a series, and her favourite perfume. Severus got her a 10 galleon gift voucher to Flourish and Blotts, as well as some chocolate. Regulus got her some books on advanced Charms and Transfiguration, as well as some chocolate, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, “For all the nieces and nephews you’re going to give me”. Remus got her an advanced Arithmancy book and some sweets. Molly, who she had spent the last few Order meetings talking to and getting to know again, and was now pregnant with the child that would grow up to be Percy, sent her some homemade mince pies and a Weasley jumper which was a burgundy colour with a cream ‘H’ in the centre, she smiled with happy tears in her eyes as she slipped it on over the black t-shirt that she was already wearing. Poppy sent her some chocolate and some books on healing as she knew that Hermione is interested in possibly pursuing that career. Sirius got her a scrapbook for her to document their life together in, knowing that she liked photographs as well. He also bought her a charm bracelet with a small black dog, a silver wolf, and an infinity symbol on it.

“It’s beautiful, Siri, thank you.” She said as he put it on her right wrist for her.

He kissed her with a smile on his face. “You’re welcome, beautiful.”

He also got her some chocolates that she liked, and a book she had been wanting for a while.

Then Albus and Minerva opened their presents. Mostly they got things for the baby, clothes, books, toys, blankets, etc. but they got a mixture of books, chocolate and sweets (Albus got a lot of sherbet lemons), robes and other things too.

When they were done with presents they spent the rest of the morning chatting and eating sweets, enjoying each other’s company. Albus and Severus played chess at some point. Lily and Hermione discussed the baby with Minerva. They all laughed and enjoyed the day.

They went down to the Great Hall at lunch time and enjoyed a meal with all of the teachers and students that were staying over the holidays. Then they went back to Minerva’s and Albus’ rooms and spent the afternoon like a family would. And they were that. A family. The two adults and the seven children, as well as the child that was growing inside Minerva. They had all grown closer as they days went by, and they all loved each other.

Overall, it was a great day.


	12. Together At Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another couple gets together, after spending a while dancing around one another.

The rest of the Christmas holidays sped by, including the New Years’ Ball that James’ parents held. It was beautiful, in the ballroom at Potter Manor which was decorated more beautifully than the Great Hall was for the Yule Ball. Everyone looked great as well, Hermione and Lily in the ball gowns that were brought for them, and the boys in their best robes. They all danced all night, the girls getting to dance with all of the boys at least once, and hugging each other at midnight, wishing everyone a ‘Happy New Year’ (obviously Sirius and Hermione, and James and Lily shared a kiss at midnight as well). The food was amazing also.

Then school started again, four days later, on the fifth of January, and it was back to studying for all of them. But Hermione could tell that Remus was distracted, and it wasn’t hard to tell what, or rather whom, he was distracted about. Severus.

She found him in the Room of Requirement on the evening of the second day of classes. He was sitting on an armchair, staring into the fire in the fireplace in front of him. There were tears leaking out of his eyes but he didn’t seem to notice. She sat in the empty armchair next to him and looked at him, watching him stare into the fire sadly.

“What’s the matter, Remus?” She asked quietly, but he heard her, and he turned to look at her, rubbing the tears away now that he had realised they were there.

“Nothing.” He replied nervously.

“Don’t lie to me, Remus. You’ve been distracted since Christmas. And I know you have feelings for Severus, he also has feelings for you. So why don’t you do something about it?”

“Why would he want me?” He asked miserably, letting another tear fall.

“Why wouldn’t he want you, Remus? You’re kind, and caring, and funny, and intelligent. You’re a beautiful person, Remus, inside and out. You deserve to be happy, and so does he. So pull yourself together and ask him out, for all of our sakes.”

“But I’m dangerous. And if people find out he’s dating a werewolf he will be vilified as well. And I won’t be able to get any decent job when I’m older because people don’t like werewolves, so how am I supposed to do anything useful? I’m dangerous, and no one should love me.”

“Remus, you are not dangerous. Sure, you turn into a wolf one night a month, but you have the wolfsbane now so you can control yourself. And all of those people that don’t understand that werewolves are only dangerous in their human forms if they want to be are idiots. You aren’t dangerous, Moony, you are one of the greatest men I have ever met. You’re so kind, and caring, and funny. You know, in the future, I was the only one who worked out that you were a werewolf. But I didn’t care, because you were a great man. You were the best Defence teacher we had ever had, you were kind and funny. You became like a father figure to Harry and I couldn’t help but thank you for that because he needed someone like you in his life, other than Mr Weasley. You deserve to be happy, Remus. You are not dangerous. And anyone who can’t see that is an idiot.”

“But what about if we have children? They’ll be werewolves, I know they will, and I don’t want to pass this curse on. I don’t want my children to be in pain every month because of me. I know Severus is a bearer, I smelt it on him the first time I saw him. I can’t risk getting him pregnant…”

“Remus, you and I both know that the only way to become a werewolf is to be bitten by one. Any child that you have will not be a werewolf. So if you do get Severus pregnant then you will be a wonderful father, and I know this because you were a wonderful father figure to Harry. I also know this because you are kind, and caring, and loving, and funny. And because you wouldn’t be worrying about your children being werewolves if you weren’t going to be a good father. And you aren’t going to be alone in anything, Remus, you’ll have Severus, and me, and everyone else. You also know that we are trying to come up with a cure for you. And I don’t know how long it’s going to take but we’re researching super hard, and we’ve found some things that may work, we just need to put them into a potion for you. We won’t stop trying until we’ve cured you, Remus. And I don’t care how many times I have to repeat all of this to you, I will repeat it to you until you believe me.” Hermione practically preached. “Be with him, Remus. You both deserve to be happy.”

Remus nodded, wanting to believe that she was right.

…

The next day, after classes ended, Remus asked Severus to join him in the Room of Requirement. Severus agreed and followed the werewolf to the Room. When they entered they saw that it had taken the form of a clearing in the Forrest at night time, their were what seemed to be fairy lights hanging between the trees circling them, making the place all the more romantic than just having the stars in the sky. They stood in the middle of the clearing, facing each other nervously.

“What did you want to speak to me about, Remus?” Severus asked gently.

“I, uh…” Remus didn’t know how to say what he wanted to say. “Severus, I have had feelings for you since the moment I met you. But I was scared, you see. I was scared because of what I am, I didn’t think I deserved to be with someone, anyone really, let alone you. I am dangerous, and I didn’t want you to be caught up in that. I didn’t even think it was possible for you to have feelings for me, because of what I am, and I know what you are. I could smell it on you the moment we met. I was scared that if we got together, I would get you pregnant, and then our children would be werewolves, and I didn’t want to put you or our children through that pain. I was too dangerous for you. So I tried to distance myself from you, I tried not to think about you. But the feelings kept getting stronger and stronger, and every time someone, even my friends, hurt you it felt like my heart was breaking. And I couldn’t help you, no matter how much I wanted to, because I was too dangerous for you. You deserve someone so much better than me. Someone who isn’t dangerous, and can give you everything you want, because I know that I won’t be able to as it will be hard for me to keep a job. And I keep telling myself this, but still the feelings keep getting stronger, and no matter how much I try to ignore them, I can’t. I can’t ignore them because I love you, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. So, what I’m trying to say is, will you be my boyfriend?” Remus asked, his nervousness clear in his voice.

Severus looked shocked for about a second before leaning up and pressing his lips to Remus’ in a passionate kiss, wrapping his arms around the taller boys’ neck. Remus kissed back, wrapping his arms around Severus’ waist.

“Is that a yes?” Remus asked as they pulled apart.

“Obviously.” Severus replied, causing them both to laugh slightly. “I love you, too. And you’re not dangerous. You’re the most amazing guy I know. And our children will be lucky to have you as their daddy. And they won’t be werewolves. And we’re going to cure you. And all I need is you, I don’t need anything else.”

“Okay.”

…

Remus stepped into the Gryffindor Common Room later that night to find James, Lily, Sirius and Hermione all sitting in front of the fire, waiting up for him. It was nearly midnight, him and Severus had spent hours in the Room of Requirement talking and getting to know each other better, the House Elves provided them with food and drink so they didn’t have to leave for dinner.

As soon as the door closed behind him they all shot up and turned to look at him expectantly. He smiled brightly at them and nodded, causing them all to whoop with joy and run over to embrace him. All of them congratulating him on finally getting the guy he wanted.

“I told you he wouldn’t care. I told you he wanted you.” Hermione whispered before pulling back from their hug.

“Thank you, for getting through to me.” He replied quietly to her, and she nodded with a happy smile on her face.

They celebrated for about another half an hour before heading up to the boys’ dormitory to get some rest. All of them happy.


	13. Agony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a painful loss for someone and Hermione blames herself!

The rest of January passed smoothly. Hermione and her friends were having a good time, even with all of the studying and preparing for their exams. Voldemort was still pretty quiet. There weren’t many attacks occurring and the one that did was quickly shut down by the Order. Hermione had been to two more Order meetings where they had discussed the Horcruxes and more. Filius had found the Diadem Horcrux and it was currently locked in a strongly warded cupboard in the Headmasters’ Office. They had formed a plan for Albus, Alastor, Filius and Arthur to go to Gringotts to look for the Cup Horcrux and hopefully find it during the second weekend of February. Minerva’s and Molly’s pregnancies were going well, and Minerva had started showing, thereby allowing Hermione to show them the spells she had found to hide pregnancies. Remus’ and Severus’ relationship was going well also, the two of them spent a lot of alone time together, as well as with the group, and they were both very happy. And everyone was happy for them.

It was now Sunday the first of February; Minerva was fourteen weeks pregnant, and Molly was eleven weeks pregnant. Everything was going well. Hermione was on her way to the Room of Requirement to meet her friends when she heard what sounded like a girl crying in pain in the girls’ bathroom on the seventh floor.

Curious Hermione made her way to the room and opened the door to find Alice sitting huddled in the corner, blood pooled on the floor around her and her arms crossed over her stomach, crying in pain. Hermione rushed over to her friend, worried, and knelt next to her.

“Alice, what’s going on?” Hermione asked concerned.

“I-I’m pregnant.” Alice whispered through her tears, shocking Hermione. “I’m losing my baby, aren’t I?” She asked sadly, looking at Hermione with pleading, sad eyes.

“I’m going to take you to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey can help you.” Hermione told her friend, trying to sound calm.

“No. I don’t want anyone to see me like this. Please, Hermione.” Alice pleaded.

Hermione called a House Elf and asked her to take the two of them to a private room in the Hospital Wing. As soon as they arrived and Alice was in the bed Hermione asked the House Elf to get Poppy for them.

When Poppy walked into the room to find the two girls on the bed, one bleeding and crying whilst Hermione comforted her as best as she could, she rushed over and asked what was wrong, concerned.

“Alice is pregnant. I found her like this in the seventh floor girls bathroom.” Hermione answered for her friend.

Poppy looked shocked for a moment before clearing her face.

“Hermione, I’m going to need you to move away from Alice for me so I can scan her properly.” Poppy instructed.

Hermione moved to sit in the chair next to the bed but Alice held onto her tightly, protesting through her cries of pain, fear and sadness.

“Alice, it’s alright. I’ll be right here, in the chair next to your bed, the whole time. I promise. You can hold my hand if you want, but I can’t get in the way of Poppy’s scans.” Hermione promised, causing Alice to reluctantly let go. Hermione moved to the chair next to the bed and held Alice’s hand in a comforting way, Alice squeezed it whenever the pain got particularly bad.

Poppy ran her scans and was shocked with what she found.

“Alice, sweetie, how long have you known that you are pregnant?” Poppy asked, concerned.

“Three months.” Alice said quietly.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Poppy questioned.

“I was scared. I didn’t want anyone to hate me for getting pregnant at fifteen. It was an accident.” Alice cried.

“No one would have hated you, sweetie. But you needed to be seen my a medical professional such as myself. Who is the father? Does he know?”

“Frank, and no, he doesn’t know. I was too scared to tell him. Is my baby dead?”

Poppy looked at the girl, a sad expression on her face as she nodded, causing Alice to start sobbing through the pain.

“Do you know what caused this? My diagnostic said that you were hit with a spell which caused the miscarriage, do you know who hit you with the spell?”

“Bulstrode, the older one.” Alice whispered.

“Okay, I will be sure to tell the Headmaster so he can be punished. But, sweetie, I need to send you into labour because of how far along you are. Do you want me to get Frank for you so that he can be here? Do you want anyone else with you?”

“Please, get Frank. And I want Hermione here as well.” Alice said hurriedly.

“Okay, I will get a House Elf to bring him for you whilst I go and get what I need.” Poppy said before leaving the room.

The two girls stayed in silence, only the sound of Alice’s cries filled the room, until Frank arrived by House Elf and rushed over to Alice, sitting next to her on the bed and taking her other hand in his.

“Alice, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Frank asked his girlfriend worriedly.

“I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I was scared.” Alice whispered to him, looking sadly into his eyes.

“Wanted to tell me what?” Frank questioned, confused.

“That I’m pregnant. Or I was, but the older Bulstrode hit me with a spell. I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you. I really did. But I was so scared that you would hate me.” Alice pleaded.

“I could never hate you, Alice. I love you.” Frank told her as sadness filled his eyes as well.

“I love you, too.” Alice replied as Poppy entered the room again with a potion vial in her hand.

“Alice, sweetie, I need you to take this potion for me. It will send you into labour, although the labour will only last an hour as it speeds up the process. However, I won’t be able to give you any pain reliever until afterwards. Take it when you’re ready.” Poppy told Alice gently, handing the potion over to her.

Alice took the vial into her hand slowly and stared at it through her tears for a few seconds before slowly unstoppering it and drinking it, groaning in pain as the first contraction spread through her stomach, squeezing Frank’s hand, and giving the vial back to Poppy so that she could squeeze Hermione’s hand also.

The hour felt like forever for time felt like it was going terribly slowly. Poppy had warded the room to make sure no one could hear what was going on inside the room. But the hour was filled with cries, and groans, and screams from Alice as she gave birth to hers and Frank’s dead child. Hermione, Frank and Poppy were also comforting her and encouraging her as much as they could.

The child turned out to be a girl. And after the child and the placenta were out of Alice she was given a pain reliever straight away. Poppy wrapped the tiny, red girl up in a soft white towel and lay her in Alice’s arms before cleaning Alice and the bed magically and covering Alice’s legs with the blanket on the bed. Poppy left the room quietly, allowing Alice and Frank to look down at their child, both silently crying as they held her tiny hands and stroked her tiny head.

Hermione sat their quietly, watching the two sadly, feeling tears sting her eyes as she thought about the pain the two must be going through at that moment.

Hermione cleared her throat gently, not wanting to disturb them, but not wanting to leave without letting them know that she was there for them if they ever needed her. The two looked up at her sadly.

“I will leave you two alone now. But, if either of you need anything, you know where to find me.” Hermione said gently as she stood up from her chair.

“Thank you for being here, Hermione. It means a lot of me.” Alice replied, smiling sadly.

“I’ll always be here for you, Alice. Whenever you need me.” Hermione promised.

Alice nodded and looked back at her precious daughter.

Frank muttered a ‘thank you’ before also turning back to his daughter and girlfriend.

Hermione left the Hospital Wing and made her way to the Room of Requirement, knowing the she was late but not caring at that particular moment.

When Hermione entered the Room of Requirement she was in a sort of trance. So much so that she didn’t notice Sirius rush up and hug her until he already had his arms around her, causing her to jump.

“Hermione, where have you been? We were getting worried.” Sirius asked as he pulled back and took in her appearance. “And why is there blood on your skirt? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Sirius and their friends all looked worried as Sirius guided her over to a chair and sat her in it, kneeling in front of her.

“I’m fine, Sirius.” She told him quietly.

“Then why are you covered in blood? And why do you look like you’re about to cry?” Sirius asked urgently, needing to know what was wrong with his love.

Remus, with his werewolf strengthened scent, could smell that the blood was from a miscarriage, he just couldn’t tell if Hermione had had the miscarriage or someone else. The smell of dead unborn child was there though.

“Sirius, have you and Hermione had sex recently?” Remus asked, worriedly.

“What? Remus, why would you ask that?” Sirius questioned his friend.

“Because the blood is from a miscarriage. I just don’t know who had the miscarriage.” Remus said, causing Sirius to look at Hermione with a pained, betrayed expression on his face.

“Sirius, it wasn’t me. I didn’t have the miscarriage. I haven’t had sex with anyone, I promise.” Hermione told him honestly even as a tear leaked out of her eyes.

“Then who had the miscarriage, Hermione? Was it McGonagall?” Lily asked, worried for her teacher.

“No, mum is fine. But I don’t know if I should tell you who had the miscarriage. I don’t know if they want anyone else to know.” Hermione said before breaking down into tears.

Sirius gathered her in his arms, pulling her into his lap as he sat on the floor, and he comforted her as best as he could, wandlessly and wordlessly removing the blood from her skirt as she cried. Their friends gathered on the floor around them and watched sadly as Hermione cried.

Soon the cries slowed down, but Hermione remained in Sirius’ lap, soaking in the comfort he and their friends were providing her with.

“It was a girl, you know. The baby. She was so tiny.” Hermione spoke quietly but all of her friends could hear her. “If I had only known about this child, I could have done something, anything to save her. I could have made sure the spell never hit her mother. I could have made sure her mother was protected.”

“Hermione, it isn’t your fault. Things like this happen. It’s sad, but there is often nothing anyone can do to stop it.” Sirius told her gently.

“But if I had known that the mother was pregnant I could have stopped it. Dumbledore in the future should have told me…”

“Maybe this is something that is different, something that has changed, meaning Dumbledore didn’t know. Or maybe he knew that there were certain things that you couldn’t change, so he decided not to tell you because it would have happened anyway. But Hermione, this isn’t your fault. So stop blaming yourself. It is the fault of whoever shot the spell at the girls’ mother. Not you.” Lily cut off her friend. “And no matter how hard you try, Hermione, you aren’t going to be able to save everyone. We’re living in a war, people are going to die no matter how hard we try to save them.”

“I know. I know people are going to die. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking that this is my fault. I could have saved that unborn child from dying.” Hermione whispered.

“Yes, you could have. But that could have changed things too much. That could have caused issues. A lot of unborn children die, Hermione, and unfortunately there is nothing we can do to stop that. And who’s to say that even if you saved the mother from that spell nothing else would have happened to have caused a miscarriage, something that you couldn’t have saved her from?” Sirius said gently, running a comforting hand up and down her back.

“I know, but it’s still hard.” Hermione replied.

“Of course it is. But we’ll all be here to support the parents if they tell people what happened. And there’s always a chance of them having other children. And they’ll be okay, eventually. It will take time, and they’ll never forget their lost daughter, but they will be okay.” Sirius said, everyone nodded in agreement.

“Sorry for crying on you, I just. I had to watch her give birth to her dead child and I just wish there was something I could have done to have stopped it from happening. Then I was imagining it happening to me, to any of us, and I just…”

“We understand, Hermione. And it very well might happen to one of us. But we’ll all be here to support each other, no matter what happens.” Remus stated sadly, holding Severus’ hand tightly.

“Always.” Severus said in response, smiling at them all sadly.


	14. AN: Sorry

Hey, I hope that you're all well. I would just like to say that I am, again, sorry for the extremely long wait on these stories. However a few months ago my health got really bad, and I just couldn't focus on my writing. That lasted a while. I am slowly getting better and feel up to writing again, however, if you haven't heard about this, there is an Article which the EU want to bring in called Article 13. This basically means that anyone on any website on the internet will not be able to post about anything that they don't own the copyright to. They also won't be able to see things from people outside of the EU unless they have a very good VPN. This also means that I won't be able to write fanfiction, no one in the EU will be able to, YouTube will be ruined, you won't be able to post a picture if you are wearing something or there is something in the background which is copyrighted/branded, you won't be able to ask for or give recommendations. The internet will be destroyed basically. If you want to know more about it The Film Theorist has just released a good video about it, and there are others out there too.

Now, there are a lot of people out there trying to get this Article to be not voted in, I am one of those people. But it is going to take a lot of work, and a lot of people to get them to see sense and decide to vote against it. I have decided that I won't upload again until I know what they have fully decided, which means I may not ever upload again, even if I want to upload because I have so much I want to write, unless a lot more people try and do something about it. But, hopefully, they will vote against it and I will be able to upload the next chapters and continue with the stories. Because I really want to.

On another note, if you want to keep up to date with me and my life and work, you can follow me on Twitter at  **RealPMakepeace**  (no space) as well as on Instagram at **paige madison makepeace**  (again, no space but you will need  **underscores between the words** , I just don't want it to go funny so I figured I would write it this way). I am also on Minds for people out there who are also on there, my username on there is  **PMakepeace98**. I am a Vocal Creator on Vocal where I have started writing articles on various topics and aim to get one published everyday, so if you want to check out my articles then you can find me here  **vocal . media / authors / paige - makepeace**  (no spaces). If you are a musician looking for lyrics for a song then I am selling the copyright to some song lyrics that I wrote on Songbay. If you are interested you can check them out here  **songbay . co / portfolio / 34586**  (again, no spaces). If you want to chat to me, or have any business inquiries I have a business email address which is  **paigemadisonbusiness at gmail. com**  and you can email me at any time and I will aim to answer within a few days. It would be great if you could follow me on social media and whatnot, it would be good to interact with you all.

Anyway, I hope you are all well, and I hope that I will be able to continue with my stories. But only time will tell. Thank you for staying with me and reading my work, I hope you all enjoyed it so far. I hope to see some of you on my social media, it would be great to talk to you. Drop me a Private message on them if you ever want to chat about anything.

Thank you xx


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